Rebirth: The New Bride Wants A Divorce-Chapter 538: I was prepared for everything but this

Marcus did not dwell on her words, because everything she had assumed was true.

He might not like her as his son’s partner, but he could not deny how capable she was when it came to business. That was something he had observed carefully over time, long before this meeting had taken place.

Kathrine had inherited her father’s natural aptitude for work. She possessed the awareness, the focus, and the quiet control that marked someone born into responsibility. But despite being Hugo’s daughter, she was nothing like him in the ways that truly mattered.

Hugo had been a cunning businessman. A man willing to gamble anything for gain. He thrived on risk, manipulation, and advantage, often blurring the line between ambition and ruthlessness.

Kathrine, however, was the opposite.

She was grounded.

Disciplined.

Principled.

She did not gamble recklessly. She built carefully. She believed in her work, and more importantly, she believed in the integrity behind it. Her passion was not driven by greed, but by purpose. She respected her profession, and that alone set her apart from many others Marcus had encountered.

As he watched her continue with her presentation, her voice calm and assured, his thoughts drifted unwillingly to the day she had taken him to the hospital.

He remembered the weakness that had overtaken him. The unfamiliar loss of control. And he remembered her presence beside him, steady and unwavering.

She had helped him without hesitation.

She had stayed.

She had not done it for approval or recognition.

She had simply done it because it was right.

That moment had shifted something inside him, something he had not acknowledged until now.

His mind moved further back, returning to the day he had called Ethan and ordered him to break up with Kathrine. He had expected obedience. He had expected compliance.

Instead, Ethan had refused.

The firmness in his son’s voice had shocked him.

Ethan had never spoken to him that way before.

At the time, Marcus had told himself it was necessary. That he was protecting his son. But deep down, there had been another reason.

He wanted to know her.

He wanted to understand the woman who had inspired such certainty in Ethan.

That was why he had asked Kathrine to meet him privately.

Not to intimidate her.

Not to frighten her.

But to test her.

He had expected resistance, perhaps even fear. But she had shown neither. She had stood before him without hesitation, without lowering her gaze, and declared her love for Ethan with a conviction that could not be shaken.

She had refused to separate from him.

She had refused to yield.

And in that moment, Marcus realized she was even more stubborn than Ethan.

But her stubbornness was not born from defiance.

It was born from love.

Marcus had never truly valued emotions.

Not until he lost the only woman who had ever believed in him.

Stephane.

He had loved her once. Truly loved her. But his ambition had consumed him. His desire to achieve more, to become more, had blinded him to everything else. He had convinced himself there would always be time later.

Later to rest.

Later to love.

Later to live.

But later never came.

By the time he realized what he had lost, the distance between them had already become permanent. The love they had once shared had faded into silence, leaving behind only regret.

And when his time began slipping away, when he could no longer ignore the limits of his own mortality, he finally understood how much of life he had missed.

His gaze returned to Kathrine.

She was still speaking, still focused, still composed.

A quiet strength.

A steady presence.

He studied her carefully, not as a businessman now, but as a father.

’I might be wrong about her,’ he admitted silently to himself. ’But I still need to make sure she will not leave Ethan when I am gone.

Because a part of him feared that possibility more than anything else.

He did not want his son to live the same life he had lived.

A life filled with success but empty of warmth.

A life built on ambition but haunted by regret.

Marcus leaned back slightly in his chair, his expression unchanged, but his thoughts heavier than before.

For the first time, his test was no longer about proving her weakness.

It was about proving her strength.

***

"Just what in the world happened?"

Kathrine walked out of the building with disbelief written all over her face. Her steps were steady, but her mind was anything but calm. She had expected resistance. Rejection. Perhaps even humiliation.

But not this.

She still could not believe Marcus had permitted the project and openly agreed to work with her. Yes, he had suggested a few changes, precise and calculated as expected, but nothing unreasonable. In fact, his feedback had been constructive.

Professional. And most surprisingly... respectful.

He had listened to her. Not as Ethan’s partner. Not as Hugo’s daughter. But as someone worthy of being heard.

The thought alone unsettled her more than rejection would have.

Unsure whether to trust what had just happened, Kathrine continued walking until she reached the parking lot. The familiar sight of her car brought a small sense of grounding. She unlocked it, opened the door, and slipped inside, closing herself off from the outside world.

The quiet inside the car allowed her thoughts to grow louder.

Her hands rested on the steering wheel, but she made no move to start the engine.

Marcus’s expression replayed in her mind.

The way he had watched her.

The way he had spoken.

The way he had agreed.

It did not feel like defeat.

It felt like acceptance.

Her chest tightened slightly at the realization.

Before she could dwell on it further, her phone rang.

The sudden sound startled her, pulling her out of her thoughts. She picked up the phone and glanced at the screen.

Ethan.

Of course.

A faint, unconscious smile formed on her lips as she answered the call.

"Will you believe that your father agreed to work with me?" she asked immediately, not even giving him the chance to speak first.

There was a brief pause on the other end.

She could almost picture his expression. Calm. Knowing.

"And you are still not able to wrap your mind around it," Ethan said.

It was not a question.

It was a statement.

Kathrine exhaled softly, leaning her head back against the seat.

"I was prepared for anything but this," she admitted. "He listened, Ethan. He actually listened. He even gave suggestions. And in the end... he approved it."

Another pause followed, but this one felt different.