Too Late to Love Her: When She Divorced, He Fell Apart-Chapter 22: If I Don’t Soften Her Up First, How Can We Part on Good Terms?

Chapter 22: Chapter 22: If I Don’t Soften Her Up First, How Can We Part on Good Terms?
Tina Hayes’s smile faded, she didn’t respond, but she firmly tried to pull her hand back.
Nathan Quinn seemed to be in an odd mood, refusing to let go, and in the struggle between them, Tina Hayes’s bag fell to the ground, a delicately packaged gift box rolled out.
Before she had a chance to pick it up, a pair of shiny gold high heels stopped in front of the gift box.
Kiara Vance bent down to pick up the gift box, glanced at the cheap bag on the ground, sneered, and said, "Nathan, how can such a cheap and embarrassing thing appear at your birthday party?"
Tina Hayes broke free from Nathan Quinn, without a word, rushed over to snatch the gift box from her hand.
Kiara Vance stepped back gracefully, intentionally throwing the lid of the gift box away, saying, "How could you bump into me? With this bump, didn’t the things in this box just fall out?"
A simple, solid-colored camel scarf fell to the ground, Tina Hayes’s expression darkened, she coldly swept a glance at Kiara Vance, silently crouched down.
Just as her fingers touched the scarf, Kiara Vance stepped on it.
"Sorry, I didn’t see you." Kiara Vance looked down at Tina Hayes, unmoving, saying, "This bar is so dark, I can’t see the ground either. Don’t get confused and start pointing your finger at me, scolding me."
The neatly arranged scarf corner was stamped with an ugly black footprint, Tina Hayes cautiously picked up the scarf, just about to put it back in the bag, but Kiara Vance unexpectedly pointed at the scarf and said, "Could this be the birthday gift you want to give Nathan?"
Nathan Quinn was taken aback, glanced at Tina Hayes with a complex expression.
Claire Hale also glanced over, Tina Hayes suddenly raised her head, stared straight at Kiara Vance, saying, "What if it is, what does it have to do with you? You dirtied my scarf, I want you to apologize immediately."
"Apologize?"
Kiara Vance’s bright red lips curved with a mocking smile: "Someone like you deserves an apology from me? Thousands of dollars worth of cheap goods, and you dare to bring them out to give Nathan?"
Her words were clearly loaded, Tina Hayes’s face changed immediately. Considering Nathan Quinn’s birthday and being in a public place, she hadn’t lost her temper with Kiara Vance earlier.
But this didn’t mean she could allow herself to be bullied.
Tina Hayes raised her hand, ready to slap Kiara Vance across the face, but a slender and powerful arm caught her.
Before she could react, Nathan Quinn swiftly took away the scarf she was about to put in her bag, casually wrapping it around his neck, saying to Kiara Vance: "I quite like this scarf."
Kiara Vance looked at him in shock: "Nathan, how can you accept something from that woman? She’s not even fit to hold your shoes!"
"Whether she is or not is not up to you to decide."
Nathan Quinn’s typically playful face was unusually serious now, he stared at Kiara Vance and said: "We are only interacting due to our parents’ arrangement, don’t think you are my fiancée."
After saying this, he turned to Tina Hayes and thanked her.
His demeanor was distant, the usual rebellious look on his face was gone, suddenly becoming hard to approach.
Tina Hayes lowered her eyes, softly saying, "You’re welcome."
Claire Hale’s gaze swept across the two of them, finally landing on Kiara Vance, she shook the phone in her hand saying, "Miss Vance, your insults towards my friend have been recorded, I suggest you get a lawyer ahead of time, so you won’t even know why you have a criminal record."
Kiara Vance glared at her hatefully: "Claire Hale, don’t think just because Tristan Lockwood backed you up last time, you can do whatever you want. I’m not working at the hospital now, no matter how powerful Tristan Lockwood is, he doesn’t have the right to threaten my dad into firing me."
Claire Hale was stunned, furrowing her delicate brows, her eyes rippling with emotion.
After a while, she slowly spoke: "Did Tristan Lockwood ask you to come apologize to me?"
Kiara Vance sneered: "Ha, do you really think you deserve a personal apology from me?"
Claire Hale cast a calm glance at her: "Kiara Vance, do you know what’s most pathetic about a person?"
Kiara Vance was taken aback, subconsciously asking: "What is it?"
Claire Hale smiled slightly, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes, saying: "Being ignorant of your own stupidity."
After speaking, she turned to leave, heading for the private room on the second floor where Tristan Lockwood was. She didn’t see the malice gradually emerging in Kiara Vance’s eyes.
During this time, Claire Hale hadn’t failed to notice the atmosphere between her and Tristan Lockwood was indeed much more harmonious.
Yet despite this, she didn’t expect Tristan Lockwood to help her from behind, her feelings inevitably complicated.
She hadn’t even gathered her thoughts when she stopped outside the private room.
Claire Hale took a deep breath, her heart pounding, nerves taut.
It felt like a long time ago, when she first met Tristan Lockwood.
She raised her hand, about to push the door open, but heard Tristan Lockwood’s indifferent voice from inside: "I want to divorce Claire Hale."
Claire Hale’s raised hand froze in the air, masochistically continuing to listen to the conversation inside.
Jenson Jennings’s face showed surprise, asking: "From what I saw, your relationship seemed pretty good today, I thought you two had gotten back like before."
"Weren’t those times just an act too."
Tristan Lockwood’s eyes were deep, swirling his glass, saying expressionlessly: "She responds better to gentle treatment than force, with her extreme temperament, I have to coax her first to have a peaceful breakup."
Jenson Jennings: "You’re this wary of Claire?"
Tristan Lockwood: "If I don’t guard against her, should I wait to be plotted against?"
Just as he finished speaking, Nathan Quinn’s voice suddenly came from outside: "Sister-in-law, why aren’t you going in?"
Tristan Lockwood’s expression turned cold, he directly pulled open the door, finding Nathan Quinn standing outside with a bewildered look.
"Where’s Claire Hale?"
His voice was chillingly cold.
Nathan Quinn didn’t even have time to respond when the noise downstairs erupted, someone shouted, "There’s a casualty!"
In the center of the crowd, Claire Hale lay on the ground covered in blood, at her feet a broken beer bottle, blood dripping from its edge.
Next to her, Tina Hayes and Kiara Vance were tangled together, both injured and in a pitiable state.
When the ambulance arrived at the bar, Tristan Lockwood had already finished administering first aid to Claire Hale.
His face was extremely grim, the temperature around him dropped to freezing, nobody dared to approach him.
Claire Hale was placed on the stretcher, carried into the ambulance.
Tristan Lockwood followed all the way to Central Hospital, at the moment Claire Hale was about to be pushed into the operating room, he changed into surgical clothes and followed her inside.
The chief surgeon Clarence Finch stopped him, scolding: "Are you insane?! In your current state, can you perform surgery on the patient?!"
Tristan Lockwood pulled out a tranquilizer he had somehow found, and injected it directly into his vein.
He asked, "Can I now?"
Clarence Finch only felt Tristan Lockwood had gone mad.
Just then Jenson Jennings walked over to inquire about the situation, Clarence Finch said: "Just keep an eye on him."
He pointed to Tristan Lockwood, then turned and went into the operating room.
Tristan Lockwood tossed the empty syringe into the trash can, Jenson Jennings saw it, eyes wide in shock: "You injected yourself with a tranquilizer?"
"Yes."
Tristan Lockwood’s gaze was excessively clear.