“You really think I am going to sign that without her being present?” Kadmiel said in the grey, echoing walls of the visitation chamber. His tone wasn’t loud, but there was an edge in it that made the young prison guard shift uncomfortably by the door.Darcy Kerr, the secretary sent on behalf of Bella Watson, placed the stack of papers on the table between her and Kadmiel.She struggled to meet his eyes. There was something about him, even when he was bound and in prison clothes. He sat with his back straight, and the chains at his wrists seemed to be more of a formality than real restraint.“Mr Harper,” Darcy began softly, “Ms Watson has instructed me to deliver these divorce papers. I want to let you know the sooner you sign, the sooner you can both move on with your lives.”Kadmiel leaned forward, he looked at her dead in the eyes, she found it difficult to replicate, so she threw her face toward the door. “Move on? Is that what she calls it now?” He tapped the corner of the pap

Before the soldiers could even react, a whirlwind of perfume, silk, and reckless energy crashed into the centre of the chamber.Lila had thrown herself forward, arms wrapping around Kadmiel with such familiarity that the guards froze in disbelief. Rifles twitched upward, fingers tightened on triggers, yet none dared to fire.“Stand down,” Kadmiel said flatly, one hand raised in command. His voice cut through the tension like a blade.The soldiers obeyed, but not without exchanging anxious looks. The nerve it took for a civilian—no, a corporate titan, to storm into a restricted military session and embrace the man they had just saluted as a five-star general was beyond comprehension.“Do you have to be this dramatic everywhere you go?” Kadmiel asked, his tone dry, though his expression was nothing more than mild exasperation.Lila pulled back only enough to look at him, her face alight with mischief. “Oh, don’t pretend you’re not touched. I know you missed me. You just won’t admit it.”

But then Agnes seemed to regain herself. “You are just really fooling at this point.”Kadmiel’s gaze never left the pendant as Agnes held it now with a smug smile, her fingers brushing the gold chain with deliberate carelessness.“You think you can demand what isn’t yours?” she asked, her tone icy but laced with mockery. “A token of your so-called family legacy? You have no claim here, Kadmiel. Not anymore. If Bella wanted it back, she would have asked herself. But she didn’t. And neither should you.”“I do not want to battle words with you anymore,” Kadmiel said evenly, his voice carrying the authority of a man accustomed to command, “I want what belongs to me. Hand it over.”Agnes laughed, soft and cruel. “Belongs to you? Everything about you has belonged to misery and failure. You are the prisoner, the ex-husband, the man everyone warned my daughter against. And now, you stand here expecting me to respect a mere trinket you insist carries your precious ‘bloodline’? Kadmiel, you amu

Kadmiel’s hands were still curled around the fragments when the suite door closed behind them. The hotel’s hushed luxury wrapped around him, but none of it dulled the things running through his mind. He stood near the center table, the broken pendant lying in his palm like a wound he could not close.Lila watched him in silence for a moment, her usual playful spark dimmed by the heaviness in his shoulders. She moved closer to him, measuring her steps, her expression softening as she reached out to gently cover his hand with hers.“Kad,” she said, her voice low, almost tender. “Don’t let what they did disturb you. They are just sad people, come on.”He shook his head slowly. “It was more than a necklace. It was… the last piece of something I thought I still carried intact. And now even that…” His words cut off, not from lack of strength, but because he knew speaking further would unravel the control he still had left.Lila leaned against the table, keeping her hand on his. “Then we

“Why does he have to be here…” Bella muttered, but Jack Fowler caught it. She had frozen where she stood, her eyes locked on Kadmiel who sat low-key at a side table with Lila leaning comfortably close to him. The moment stretched longer than she intended, making her anxious, her throat dry, her palms restless against the fabric of her gown. Kadmiel did not move either. He just stared at her, steady, unflinching and unreadable. The loud music was a bit reduced now, there was still a lot of clinking, and chatter in the banquet. Then Bella, almost defiantly, blinked first and turned away. The deliberate shift cut something in Kadmiel. To her, it was a choice. To him, it was a declaration, she was moving on, and so he should just accept it.Lila tilted her head, watching him. “You look like you have seen a ghost.” Her words came with a smirk, but her eyes searched his face with a sharpness that caught his discomfort.“It’s nothing,” Kadmiel replied, though his voice carried a weight