No More Mrs. Nice Wife (Eleanor) novel Chapter 1169

Eleanor stepped outside, where Joslyn brought her a bowl of sweet soup. "Ma'am, I made you some sweet fruit soup. It's good for you."

Eleanor looked at her gratefully. "Thank you."

Joslyn was still feeling incredibly guilty about the Princess incident. Her momentary lapse had caused them to waste so much precious time.

Eleanor sat down to eat her soup, pulling out her iPad to continue analyzing data.

At eight-thirty, Ian came out with their daughter for a drink of water. Evelyn's face lit up. "Mommy, you're back! Daddy and I were practicing how to introduce myself in French."

"I heard, sweetie. Evelyn is making great progress," Eleanor praised her daughter.

Ian's gaze fell on her face, and Eleanor looked up at him, saying softly, "Thank you."

Ian's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. "You don't need to be so formal with me."

But Eleanor felt it was necessary. They were two separate individuals now, no longer husband and wife. She couldn't just take it for granted that he would look after their child.

"Next week, I have to go abroad for a three-day, closed-door conference. I won't be able to contact the outside world during that time. I'll let Serena know to pick up Evelyn for a few days," Ian said in a low voice, watching Eleanor's reaction.

Eleanor nodded as she sipped her soup. "I understand."

Ian's Adam's apple bobbed silently. Looking at the woman at the dining table, he wanted to tell her that those twelve missed calls from four years ago weren't because he was deliberately ignoring her. It was because he was in an isolated conference room, fighting for the very survival of Goodwin & Co.

However, the thought came and went, and he suppressed it.

He looked at Eleanor's calm profile as she focused on the data analysis report on her iPad. He realized that his explanation would mean nothing to her now; it would just be an unnecessary disturbance.

Eleanor sent a text to Ryan, telling him she had personal matters to attend to in the morning and would be at the lab by noon.

Although for Eleanor, her work had long since transcended fixed hours and locations. Even when she was home, she rarely had time that was truly her own.

The next morning, Ian arrived on time to pick up Evelyn, who skipped happily to school holding his hand.

Eleanor left shortly after. She stopped at a nearby flower shop and had the florist wrap a bouquet of white chrysanthemums. Cradling the flowers, she drove toward her father's cemetery.

The security detail followed her responsibly. At nine-thirty, she arrived at a cemetery on the outskirts of the city. As she parked her car by the roadside, she was startled to see a black Maybach parked ahead.

It was Ian's car.

Eleanor got out with the white chrysanthemums and walked halfway up the slope. There, in front of her father's gravestone, she saw Ian crouching down, pulling weeds.