Hearing Rosalind raise the amount to eight million dollars snapped something in Chloe. She couldn't fathom why someone like Sean—a house husband—deserved that much money.Her voice cut through the tension.“Ms. Springfield, with all due respect, this is ridiculous! Eight million? For him?” She shot Sean a furious look. “What exactly did you do to deserve that, huh? Fold the laundry too well?”Sean remained silent, his calmness only fueling Chloe’s rage.Rosalind didn't flinch. Her eyes stayed locked on Sean’s. “It’s my decision, Chloe.”“But—”“I said it’s my decision,” Rosalind interrupted, her voice cold and commanding.Chloe’s mouth opened, but she stepped back, fuming in silence.Sean tapped his fingers on the table. “Eight million… You must really want me gone.”“It’s not about wanting you gone,” Rosalind said, meeting his gaze. “It’s about tying up loose ends cleanly.”“Clean,” Sean echoed softly, almost to himself. “Like we were just... a project.”Rosalind said nothing, her fi

Just by looking at them, Sean could tell—they weren’t going to let him go easily.“I told you,” Sean said slowly, his voice quiet but firm, “I didn’t take anything from Rosalind. She never gave me an allowance. I never needed it. Everything I have, I earned myself.”Lillian’s laugh was sharp and mocking. “Oh, please. Who wouldn’t take five million dollars? You think anyone would turn that down?”Eleanor’s cold eyes bore into him. “That’s exactly what she’s giving you, isn’t it? Five million in alimony. You think that’s a gift? You think we don’t know? You’ve been living off her for years, and now you’re trying to act like you didn’t?”“I never asked for her money,” Sean said firmly, stepping forward. His voice didn’t waver. “She gave it, but I didn’t take it.”Lillian snorted. “And yet here you are, standing in front of us, acting all high and mighty. If she gave it to you, then why are you pretending to be innocent? You didn’t refuse it, did you?”“Who would refuse five million dolla

Eleanor nodded frantically. "That's what he said!"Rosalind's expression darkened. Her fingers curled into fists at her sides. She had always known Sean as calm and collected, but she had never imagined he was capable of something like this. She couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to make him react that way.‘Was he mad about the divorce and took it out on Julian?’ she thought."Are you talking about Victor Stroud?" Chloe asked, disbelief coloring her tone. "Are you sure you saw the right person?"Eleanor turned to glare at her. "Are you saying I don’t know what I saw?!"Chloe immediately backed off. "I'm sorry if it came across that way," she said quietly.Lillian stepped forward, her eyes sharp with tension. "Rosalind, you need to talk to Sean. He went too far this time. Beating Julian like that? It’s completely unacceptable."As far as Lillian was concerned, she wasn’t about to let Sean off the hook—not after the fear he put them through.Rosalind’s chest tightened. "What e

Abrill stared at Sean, her eyes wide with shock. She had been trying for days to locate the hacker, and despite all her efforts, she had failed. Yet Sean had managed to do it in less than five minutes.It felt too good to be true—like he was bluffing just to look impressive."How can we be sure you actually found the hacker's location?!" Abrill demanded. "You might be able to fool others, but not me! Show us the location on the laptop and let us see it ourselves."Sean didn’t even glance up. “They’re bouncing their signal through multiple proxies, but the core route has a flaw. They left a trace in the data packet—very subtle.”He typed a few more commands, then turned the laptop toward Greg and Abrill. A world map lit up, red lines tracing digital routes across continents until one point blinked steadily.“There,” Sean said simply. “Warsaw, Poland. The hacker’s origin point.”Gasps filled the room.Greg leaned in, adjusting his glasses. “That… that’s not just a general location. That

Victor’s expression turned cold, and before he could stop himself, he grabbed Dante by the collar.“There was a reason I told you not to touch it,” Victor growled. “You triggered a full collapse!”“I—I didn’t do anything wrong!” Dante stammered, eyes wide. “The system was already unstable. Anyone could see that!”Victor shoved him back. “Don’t play dumb. You bypassed the warning protocol. You knew exactly what you were doing.”Dante’s face twisted with desperation. He glanced at Abrill and Greg, then pointed toward the door. “You’re blaming the wrong person. This has an amateur hacker written all over it!”Abrill blinked. “What?”Dante straightened, trying to collect himself. “Think about it. You said you hired a hacker, he’s the one who set up the new security layer. He insisted on handling the fail-safe alone. I wouldn’t be surprised if he planted something. A backdoor, a code bomb—waiting to blow the second I touch the system.”Greg frowned. “You’re saying Mr. O’Connor sabotaged it