Vanessa wasn't in a hurry.
Zahn Neri was a man of responsibility. A man of discipline. A man who didn't entertain distractions.
Then she'd heard that Zahn and Lianna had completely fallen apart.
Lianna had moved out of the villa, and asked for divorce.
Vanessa had held onto that information like a candle in the dark. It had warmed her patience. Fed her hope. Justified her persistence.
But now, it doesn't seem to be the case?
Why did Zahn just defend her in public? Why did he look at Lianna as if she mattered?
Vanessa's mind ran cold calculations at lightning speed, rearranging every piece of information she'd collected over the past weeks.
Was the divorce real… or just a performance? Or worse, had Zahn simply realized too late what he could lose?
---
The rest of dinner unfolded like a play where everyone had forgotten their lines.
The three of them sat together, but there was no warmth in the space between their plates.
Zahn was obviously distracted. He ate, but barely tasted. His gaze drifted too often toward the sea, as if the scene replayed in his mind on a cruel loop.
Lianna, on the other hand, tried to look unbothered. She chatted lightly with Sean, about what dessert he wanted.
Sean understood, in the quiet way children did when adults thought they were clever at hiding things. He didn't ask questions. He simply pretended he hadn't seen his father beat someone not long ago.
When dinner finally ended, Lianna stood first.
"I'll be right back," she told Sean gently. "I'm going to the restroom."
She stepped into a cubicle, and when she emerged, right outside, in front of the mirror, Vanessa stood fixing her lipstick with delicate precision.
Vanessa met Lianna's reflection in the mirror with a calm that was too intentional to be innocent.
Lianna pretended she didn't recognize her. She walked to the sink, and washed her hands without haste.
"I heard you're getting a divorce?" Vanessa spoke.
Lianna didn't respond. She tossed the paper towel into the bin and moved toward the exit, but Vanessa stepped in front of her.
"I have to say," she murmured, voice soft like poison poured into tea, "you sure know how to play this game. The invisible wife who finally had enough and wanted out… Naturally, you ignite a man's guilt. And Brother Zahn, being morally upright, he'll definitely give chase."
Lianna stared at her, expression blank.
"And your son, I remember he was disdainful to you. He even told you to get lost in front of so many guests after you pushed me at his birthday banquet." Vanessa added, voice dipping with malicious curiosity, she drew out the word 'pushed' with mocking innocence. "How did you tame him?"
Lianna's eyes flickered. A dull ache, like bruised skin pressed too hard.
"Move," she said flatly.
Vanessa didn't budge. Instead, she sneered, her mask slipping just enough to show the sharp edges underneath.
"Well, I really underestimated you. You actually managed to turn things around. But do you really think you could surpass Madam Neri in Brother Zahn's heart? No matter what you do, she will never like you, even more, you could drive a wedge between them mother and son."
Lianna remained calm, she said coolly. "Then should I take advice from you about what I should do? Someone who couldn't wait to be a mistress is unreliable, don't you think so?"
Vanessa's smile froze.
Lianna didn't wait to see what expression came next. She stepped past Vanessa with deliberate ease, shoulder brushing by as if Vanessa were nothing more than an obstacle.
"What do you mean?" Vanessa snapped, her composure cracking like thin glass. "Who said I want to be a mistress?"
She followed Lianna out of the restroom, heels clicking fast with irritation, and deliberately stepped into her path again in the hallway, blocking her like a gatekeeper.
Lianna stopped, the calm in her gaze so sharp it felt insulting.
"If you don't want to be a mistress, then why are you so invested in my family matters?"
Vanessa "..."
For once, her tongue failed her.
Then Vanessa's eyes suddenly brightened. A provoking smile crept onto her lips.
"Brother Zahn might feel guilty toward you for the time being," she said softly, "but how long do you think that will last?"
In that fraction of a second, Vanessa grabbed Lianna's hand, with a sudden, theatrical twist of her body, she staged it like an accident, letting herself collapse to the floor with a pitiful slump, as though she'd been shoved with force.
"Sister-in-law…" Vanessa choked, eyes instantly reddening. "Y-you… why did you push me?"
Lianna's blood ran cold. A familiar scheme.
At that exact moment, footsteps approached and Zahn appeared at the end of the hallway.
Zahn's gaze flicked from Vanessa on the floor to Lianna standing over her. "You were taking so long so I came to check. What happened?"
Vanessa looked up at him as if she'd suffered the greatest injustice in the world. She tried to stand, wobbling dramatically and fell back with a soft gasp.
Zahn instinctively reached down and helped her up.
Vanessa leaned into him, her lips curving ever so slightly. A triumphant smile, meant only for Lianna.
"Brother Zahn, I… I think I sprained my ankle."
Zahn steadied Vanessa, then asked, "Aren't you with those two? Where are they?"
"They're still in a meeting," she said softly. "I just came out to the restroom and met Sister-in-law. I just wanted to know how's Sean but it seems…"
She paused, biting her lip, glancing at Lianna with fearful, wounded eyes.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have acted too familiar with Sean. It's just that I'm too fond of him, he's such a good kid."
The implication was clear, Lianna was jealous and couldn't stand Vanessa asking about Sean. Perhaps she feared her own son would prefer Vanessa over his own mother.
Zahn subtly frowned but before he could say anything, Lianna spoke first.
"You left Sean alone?" she asked, her voice quiet but sharp.
"I asked some staff to look after him," Zahn reassured quickly. "He's fine."
Lianna nodded once.
Then in one swift motion, she grabbed Vanessa by the arm, yanking her upright out of Zahn's support.
And with the same hand that Vanessa had used to stage her fall, Lianna delivered a resounding slap across Vanessa's face.
The sound cracked through the hallway like a gunshot.
Vanessa's head snapped to the side.
Both of them stared at Lianna in shock. For a moment, even Vanessa forgot to pretend.
Lianna flexed her fingers afterward, her palm stinging. A small grimace crossed her face from pain.
"If you had just said from the very beginning that you wanted to frame me, I would've followed along. Are you satisfied? You got the audience you wanted, and now no one would dare say you're scheming. Next time you want to hurt yourself, tell me in advance so I can bring some tools."
Vanessa's eyes widened, her cheek blooming red.
Lianna walked back toward the restaurant, halfway down the hall, she paused and glanced back over her shoulder, eyes cool and merciless.
"Oh, and don't be in such a hurry with your schemes, it's really embarrassing if the CCTV captures it."
Vanessa flinched as if struck again. She had completely forgotten the cameras.
Zahn's expression shifted, something like realization sharpening in his eyes as he hurried after Lianna.
Vanessa called after him, her voice panicked and wounded, but Zahn didn't even glance back.
She couldn't understand it.
What had gotten into Lianna to actually slap her in front of Zahn Neri?
Wasn't she afraid he'd see her as vicious, and unreasonable?
And more than that, Lianna had always been timid. Always the type to stand there like a sculpture while insults and contempt rained down on her like dirty water.
So how had she changed so suddenly?
Unable to get the outcome she wanted, Vanessa stomped her foot in frustration, nails digging into her palms as she glared down the corridor where they'd disappeared.
---
"Lianna…"
Zahn caught up quickly, his long strides eating the distance between them.
But before he could finish, Lianna cut him off without even looking at him.
"I won't apologize so you can forget about it. If you're worried about her, go ahead and accompany her. I'll take Sean home."
Zahn stopped short, stunned. "That's not it,"
In that moment, he remembered the birthday banquet. The way he'd turned to Lianna in front of everyone and asked her to apologize to Vanessa.
His throat tightened. The words he wanted to say turned heavy.
The drive back to the villa passed with a suffocating stillness.
When they finally arrived, Zahn didn't speak until they were inside.
"Can you accompany Sean tonight?"
Lianna paused. She turned and looked at him intently, as if searching his face for the real reason.
"He must've seen what I did," Zahn added, voice low. "And knowing our son, he always tries to act more mature than his age. He'll keep it to himself."
"So shouldn't you comfort him instead of asking me?" she asked, blunt and unsoftened.
"You know I'm not good at those things. And about tonight…" Zahn's mouth tightened. Then he let out a faint, self-deprecating smile and placed his hands on her shoulders, firm but not forceful.
There was weight in his touch, like he needed something solid to keep from collapsing.
Lianna's instinct was to shrug him off. But she'd been sensing it for a while now that he wasn't himself.
Still, as long as it didn't involve Sean, she didn't want to be dragged into whatever storm Zahn was carrying.
"My mom and that man earlier…" Zahn's jaw clenched as if he had to wrestle the words out of his own throat. "They're in that kind of relationship."
For a second, Lianna didn't understand.
Her brows knitted, confusion flickering across her face.
Then the meaning sank in, slow and brutal.
Her expression shifted into disbelief, then utter shock.
No wonder Zahn had snapped like that. No wonder his fists had moved before his brain could stop them.
She couldn't blame him.
Someone like Madam Neri, who had raised her son with strict, suffocating discipline. Someone who had always preached perfection, reputation, manners, restraint.
And yet she was the opposite of what she'd packaged herself to be.