Chapter 648: Private Meeting
She pointed at him again.
"We wouldn’t have had such a peaceful life if that girl had remained here!"
As she spoke, tears streamed down her face.
The years of frustration and insecurity she had buried finally erupted.
Neil’s expression instantly darkened. "How dare you say that?"
His voice thundered through the room. "Gwen!"
He clenched his fists. "Other than loving you with my entire heart, what haven’t I given you?"
His eyes were bloodshot.
"I gave you my trust. I gave you my loyalty. I gave you my life. So why?"
His voice cracked slightly.
"Why do you always treat me like I’m some incompetent husband?"
The room fell silent.
Then a soft voice suddenly spoke from the shadows.
"But you were, Father."
Both Gwen and Neil froze.
Slowly, they turned toward the source of the voice.
A young man stepped out from the darkness.
It was their son. Frank. His expression was calm, but there was disappointment hidden in his eyes.
Neil frowned.
"Frank?"
The young man looked directly at his father. "Did you forget?"
His voice remained steady.
"When Mom and I were living with you, and Mira came to stay with us for two weeks?"
Neil’s brows slowly knitted together.
Frank continued.
"You made sure she felt at home. You instructed the maids to prepare dishes she liked."
A bitter smile appeared on his face. "You completely forgot what I liked."
His gaze lowered slightly.
"You forgot that I was allergic to several dishes that happened to be Mira’s favorites."
Neil’s expression gradually stiffened.
Frank wasn’t finished.
"You bought her expensive clothes. You attended her school events. Sometimes you even forgot about mine."
His voice wasn’t loud. That somehow made it hurt even more.
"Father, at that time, you became biased."
Frank glanced at Gwen.
"When Mom saw that happening, she became afraid."
His eyes returned to Neil.
"She thought you would dedicate your entire life to Mira. She thought you would forget your own son. That’s why she did what she did."
For the first time, Neil looked at his son with disbelief.
Then he laughed. A hollow laugh. "So that’s it?"
His eyes slowly became cold.
"You thought I would love Mira so much that I would abandon my own family?"
He shook his head.
"In order to secure your position, both of you decided to push away an innocent little girl?"
His voice became sharper.
"How could you be so vicious?"
A trace of hatred appeared in his eyes.
Seeing that look, Gwen slowly closed her eyes.
’It’s always like this...’
A bitter smile appeared on her face.
’He never admits his own mistakes.’
In Neil’s eyes, he was always right. Taking a deep breath, she finally spoke.
"Anyway."
Her voice sounded exhausted. "I want a divorce."
After hearing Mira’s words during their meeting, Gwen had finally understood something.
She had indeed become paranoid. But that didn’t mean she was willing to leave with nothing.
Opening her eyes, she looked directly at Neil.
"I want the house. And half of the property."
Her voice was firm. "As for you..."
A bitter smile appeared on her lips.
"You can go and take care of Mira. I won’t stop you."
Silence followed. Several long seconds passed.
Then Neil’s eyes flickered. Finally, he nodded. "Alright."
The single word pierced Gwen’s heart.
For a moment, it felt as though someone had stabbed a knife directly into her chest.
Her breathing became uneven. ’See?’
A painful thought surfaced. ’He really does care more about Mira.’
She was convinced that after seeing the current Mira, Neil had begun feeling guilty.
Perhaps somewhere deep inside his heart, he had always wanted to make up for everything Mira had suffered.
Maybe that was why he was willing to give away half of his property so easily.
Maybe he had already imagined how he would help Mira in the future.
The more Gwen thought about it, the more convinced she became.
Once she made up her mind, she immediately contacted an attorney.
The next day, both Gwen and Neil arrived at the divorce office.
The entire process was completed quickly.
After signing the final documents, they officially became strangers.
Neil walked out first. A faint smile rested on his face.
For the first time in many years, he looked relaxed.
As though a heavy burden had finally been lifted from his shoulders.
Meanwhile, Gwen stood there frozen.
Tears streamed endlessly down her cheeks.
This was the man she had loved since her youth. The man she had fought her parents to marry.
Yet in the end, she felt as though he had cared more about his niece than his own wife.
After Gwen left, Neil quietly turned around and looked at her departing figure.
A faint smile appeared on his face. He softly murmured,
"Live a good life. From now on, forget about me."
His eyes became slightly moist.
"It would be better if you never remembered me at all."
Then he turned around and walked away. His lonely figure gradually disappeared into the distance.
What Gwen never knew throughout her entire life was that Neil had truly loved her.
There had indeed been a period when he became overly attentive toward Mira.
However, the moment he realized his own son was feeling neglected, he immediately decided to make changes.
He had even prepared a special surprise for Frank.
He wanted to repair the damage before it became too serious.
Unfortunately, fate never gave him the opportunity.
Before he could fix things, Mira suddenly disappeared and was kidnapped.
The incident completely shattered his plans.
For years, he used countless resources searching for his missing niece.
At the same time, he devoted more attention to Gwen and Frank.
By then, he had already realized his mistakes.
He had gradually begun seeing Gwen and Frank as his entire world.
The family he wanted to protect. The people he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
But unfortunately... It was already too late.
Years of insecurity had poisoned Gwen’s heart.
By the twenty-third year of their marriage, her fears had grown into paranoia.
No matter what Neil did, she could no longer trust him. And there was another secret he never told anyone.
A secret he carried alone. Several months earlier, he had received a medical report.
Late-stage cancer. When he learned the truth, he sat alone in silence for a very long time.
His hands trembled as he held the report.
Yet even then, he made a decision. He would not tell Gwen.
Not because he didn’t love her. But because he loved her too much.
He didn’t want her final memories of him to be those of a dying man slowly wasting away before her eyes.
Towards the woman he loved, Neil knew he had wronged his wife far too many times.
Perhaps someone might say that he could have redeemed himself, that he had already spent the last twenty years trying to make amends.
However, deep down, he knew that no amount of effort could truly repay the devotion and loyalty she had shown him. Even after all those years, he still felt unworthy of her.
That was why, when Mira contacted him and mentioned suing his wife, he immediately understood what he needed to do.
’This is the least I can leave behind for her.’
After all, he was going to die soon.
Without hesitation, he arranged his affairs. Eighty percent of his property was transferred under Gwen’s and his son’s names.
As for the remaining twenty percent, he requested a private meeting with Mira.
When Mira received the invitation from her uncle, her emotions became complicated.
Her uncle had always been good to her.
According to Aurora’s investigation, he had spent years searching for her whereabouts. He had never truly given up looking for her.
When she finally entered the room and saw him sitting there, she forced a faint smile onto her face.
Neil looked noticeably thinner than before. His face had become pale, and the wrinkles around his eyes seemed deeper.
Looking at Mira, he spoke softly. "Mira, I know what I am about to ask is presumptuous."
His voice trembled slightly. "But I beg you... please don’t keep Gwen behind bars for too long."
The moment those words left his mouth, silence filled the room. Mira lowered her gaze.
She truly could not bring herself to argue with him.
When her mother had been beaten and abused, it had often been this uncle who secretly helped them.
He had looked after them when nobody else would. He had made sure they had food to eat and a place to stay.
Maybe the reason she and her mother had survived back then was because of him.
"I was never planning to send her to prison for only four years."
The moment those words were spoken, Neil’s body visibly stiffened. His fingers trembled.
After a long pause, he spoke again. "I only have one month left to live."
Mira froze. Her eyes widened in disbelief. For a moment, she wondered if she had heard him incorrectly.