Chapter 3 Talking Back

"Alden!" Thalia couldn't help but call out to him. She hadn't expected things to go so smoothly. Alden looked back, pulling his phone away from his ear. "What is it?" Thalia was about to say something when she recalled how Alden and Kiera still needed this marriage as a shield for their illicit relationship. He was bound to refuse any notion of divorce right now. Plus, the divorce agreement might even be nullified. After weighing all the odds, Thalia decided to wait for another opportunity to arise. "It's nothing. You go on ahead," she said. Alden didn't waste a single second and marched out of the bedroom right away. Thalia's expression went cold and hard. She then tossed the roses in the trash bin. She packed the divorce agreement into her bag and went downstairs, only to hear Alden's mother, Josephine Marwood's, voice. "Oh, dear. What do we do? The baby won't be able to get its proper nutrients if you're not able to keep your food down." Thalia didn't want to bother with Josephine, so she marched right out the front door without pause. "Stop right there," Josephine called out, stopping Thalia in her tracks. "Thalia, Kiera here hasn't had a good appetite lately. But she wants to eat bone broth cooked by you, so go and make some right now." Josephine had always wanted grandchildren. On the day Thalia married Alden, Josephine had made it clear to Thalia that whichever daughter-in-law of hers gave her a grandchild first would become the family's matriarch. Now that Kiera was pregnant and her husband, Aaron, had died in an accident, the baby in Kiera's belly became the only offspring Josephine's eldest son would ever sire. Josephine naturally devoted all her time and attention to this baby. Josephine had carefully tended to Kiera for the past six months, fearful that she might get injured in any way. Josephine was even the one who'd permitted Alden to accompany Kiera to her ultrasound scans. Meanwhile, Thalia hadn't gotten pregnant even once throughout her three years of marriage to Alden. Additionally, the Marquette family's strength had been waning, too. As a result, Josephine had gotten increasingly dissatisfied with Thalia and was getting harsher with her words. Ever since her pregnancy, Kiera had started to get more nauseous. She didn't have much of an appetite for anything and only enjoyed the bone broth Thalia made. Josephine would then have Thalia make this dish for Kiera every few days. Thalia had naturally become Kiera's caretaker of sorts due to pitying her after Aaron passed away. But now that Kiera and Alden's affair had been revealed to Thalia, Thalia no longer needed to strain herself further. "I'm busy today." Thalia refused without hesitation. Josephine hadn't expected that to happen at all. Ever since Thalia married into the family, she'd do all of Josephine's bidding without question. Thalia would never talk back or retaliate in any way. But now, it seemed like Thalia had grown bold, daring to outright refuse Josephine's instructions. Josephine's expression darkened as she raised her voice and cried, "You've neither suffered nor lacked anything in the three years since you married into this family. Yet now, you refuse to even cook a simple meal of bone broth? "I'm warning you, Thalia Marquette—our family doesn't tolerate anyone who doesn't pull their weight. Alden didn't marry you so you could be his trophy wife." Bitterness swelled in Thalia's heart. After the Marquette family's downfall, Thalia joined Marquette Group in order to help Stanford revive it. She'd achieved a good amount of success and increased the family's good repute to some extent. Thalia wouldn't have quit her job in the company to dedicate all her time to Alden and Crestfall Group if it weren't for Josephine. She had hoped that any daughter-in-law of hers would be a loving, caring wife to their husband and devote their attention to nurturing the family. All Josephine had ever seen Thalia do for all these years was use their family's resources to help the Marquettes. Meanwhile, Josephine had wholly ignored the fact that Thalia had devoted an abundance of time and effort to Alden, his family, and Crestfall Group. Even today, Josephine was labelling Thalia a trophy wife! It was time for Thalia to snap out of it. She was going to assume her rightful place and help Stanford build up Marquette Group once again. Josephine had marched over to Thalia in the blink of an eye. She stood threateningly over Thalia, as if ready to slap the latter at any given moment. "What are you doing standing there? Hurry up and make the broth. If anything happens to Kiera, I'll have Alden cut up the funding to your family's company!" Josephine snapped. "Whatever." Thalia turned to leave, not wishing to tolerate her anymore. Josephine was stunned. How dare Thalia speak to her this way? Her face contorted angrily. "Alden must've been spoiling you too much! How dare you talk back to me?" "What's going on?" All of a sudden, a cold voice rang out from upstairs. Josephine looked up to see Alden walking down the steps. She immediately complained about Thalia to him. "Look at how rude your wife is! She doesn't even respect me anymore—me, her mother-in-law! If you don't discipline her now, she might just violently lash out at me one day!" After listening to Josephine's complaints, Alden's gaze turned cold as they focused on Thalia. What disappointed Thalia wasn't Josephine crying wolf—it was this cold, distant look Alden was giving her response. Alden had instantly assumed Thalia to be at fault.