All Chapters of The Firefighter Returns as a Quintillionaire King: Chapter 31
- Chapter 40
44 chapters
CHAPTER 31
Lisa pushed open the apartment door, expecting... she wasn't sure what she was expecting. But what greeted her was darkness and silence."Alex?" she called out, flipping the light switch in the entryway. The overhead light flickered on, illuminating a thin layer of dust on the console table by the door. "Alex, are you home?"Silence.Lisa frowned, stepping further inside. The apartment felt wrong—cold, empty, abandoned. She walked through the living room, her heels clicking against the hardwood floor, and her irritation grew with each step.Dust had accumulated on the coffee table. The kitchen counter hadn't been wiped down. There were no dishes in the sink, but that was because no one had cooked anything. The apartment looked exactly as it had days ago when she'd left with Ben—untouched, uncleaned, unlived in."Alex!" Lisa's voice rose sharply, echoing through the empty rooms. "Where the hell are you? Why haven't you cleaned this place? It's a mess!"She stormed down the hallway towa
CHAPTER 32
She wandered back to the living room in a daze, her mind struggling to process what she was seeing. Every trace of Alex had been erased from the apartment. It was like he'd never lived here at all.That's when she saw it—a manila envelope on the kitchen counter, partially hidden behind the coffee maker. Her name was written across it in Alex's neat handwriting.Lisa's hands shook as she picked it up and pulled out the contents. Papers. Legal papers. The divorce agreement she'd signed in such a rage, without reading.But there was another copy here too—one with both their signatures. And a note, clipped to the front.Lisa,I've taken my belongings and moved out. The apartment is yours—I never contributed much to the mortgage anyway. All the furniture, everything—keep it all. I don't want anything.Enclosed is your copy of the signed divorce agreement. Mine is already filed with the court. The process should be complete in about six weeks.I hope you find happiness with Ben or whoever e
CHAPTER 33
Lisa looked at her phone again, at the blocked messages and failed calls. In the past, Alex would have been home by now. He would have cooked her dinner, asked about her day, tried to smooth over whatever fight they'd had. He would have been there, constant and reliable as the sunrise.But now he was gone. And the silence he'd left behind was deafening."Fine," Lisa said, standing up abruptly. "Fine! If he wants to play games, if he wants to threaten me with divorce, then two can play at that. I'm not going to chase after him. I'm not going to beg him to come back. He wants to leave? Let him leave!"She threw the divorce papers back onto the counter with more force than necessary. "I'll show him. I'll prove that I don't need him. I never needed him. He was just... convenient. A firefighter with no ambition, no drive. I lifted him up, gave him a better life, and this is how he repays me?"Lisa paced the apartment, her fury building. "He'll come crawling back. They always do. Once he re
CHAPTER 34
Three weeks. Twenty-one days. Five hundred and four hours since Alex had walked out of Lisa's office with the signed divorce papers.Lisa knew because she'd counted. Every single day.She sat in her corner office at BaiShui Group, staring at her phone for what felt like the hundredth time that morning. The screen was blank—no notifications, no messages, no missed calls. Just her wallpaper, a generic corporate image she'd never bothered to change.In the past, her phone would have had at least a dozen messages from Alex by now. "Good morning, beautiful." "Have a great day at work." "Don't forget to eat lunch." "Thinking about you."Messages that had annoyed her. Messages she'd rarely responded to. Messages she'd found clingy and desperate.Messages that had stopped completely.Lisa's thumb hovered over Alex's contact, even though she knew what would happen. She'd tried yesterday. And the day before. And the day before that. Every single day for three weeks, she'd tried to call or text,
CHAPTER 35
The name hit Lisa like a physical blow. She tried to keep her expression neutral, but Ben must have seen something because his eyes narrowed."It is Alex, isn't it?" Ben's voice took on an edge. "Lisa, you signed the divorce papers. It's over. Why are you still thinking about him?""I'm not—""Don't lie to me," Ben interrupted, leaning forward. "I see the way you keep checking your phone. The way you look at the door like you're expecting someone to walk through it. You're waiting for him to come back, aren't you?"Lisa's hands clenched on her desk. "That's not—I'm just—" She took a breath, trying to organize her thoughts. "I thought he would at least try to contact me. We were married for three years, Ben. And now it's like I never existed. Like those three years meant nothing.""They didn't mean anything," Ben said bluntly. "At least not to him. He left you, remember? He's the one who walked out. He's the one who filed for divorce. If you meant anything to him, he wouldn't have give
CHAPTER 36
Ben had thought that once Alex was out of the picture, Lisa would naturally gravitate toward him. They spent every day together at work, shared business goals, had chemistry. It should have been easy to transition from business partners to romantic partners.But Lisa remained distant. Distracted. Unavailable.And it was all because of Alex."You know what?" Ben said, forcing his voice to remain calm and sympathetic. "Maybe you need closure. Maybe the reason you're so unsettled is because things ended so abruptly. You never got to have a final conversation, to really say goodbye."Lisa looked up at him hopefully. "Do you think so?""Absolutely," Ben lied smoothly. "It's natural to feel this way. But Lisa, you need to accept that it's over. Alex has clearly moved on—he's living with that rich woman now, probably enjoying all the luxuries her money can buy. He's not thinking about you."Each word was carefully chosen, designed to sting. And Ben saw the impact—the way Lisa's face fell, th
CHAPTER 37 PART 1
Chapter 18Lisa stared at her untouched salad, pushing the greens around her plate without any real interest. They were sitting in an upscale bistro near the BaiShui Group headquarters, one of Ben's favorite lunch spots. The place was elegant, expensive, and completely wasted on Lisa's current state of mind."You haven't eaten anything," Ben observed, watching her with barely concealed frustration. "Lisa, you need to take better care of yourself.""I'm not hungry," Lisa muttered, setting down her fork."You haven't been hungry for three weeks," Ben pointed out. "You've lost weight. You're not sleeping well—I can see the circles under your eyes even through your makeup. This can't go on."Lisa looked up at him, and for a moment, her carefully constructed facade cracked. "Ben, I need to tell you something.""What is it?"She took a deep breath, her fingers twisting the napkin in her lap nervously. "Alex and I... we're getting divorced. Actually divorced. It's not a threat or a fight any
CHAPTER 37 PART 2
Lisa looked away, unable to answer. Because the truth was complicated and messy and she didn't fully understand it herself. All she knew was that the apartment felt wrong without Alex. That every morning she woke up expecting to smell coffee brewing and hear him humming off-key in the kitchen. That every night she reached for him in bed before remembering he was gone.Ben took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. Getting angry wouldn't help. He needed to be supportive, understanding, the perfect alternative to Alex. Only then would Lisa finally see what was right in front of her."I'm sorry," Ben said, his voice gentling. "I didn't mean to sound harsh. I just hate seeing you like this. You deserve so much better than this pain, this uncertainty. You deserve someone who would never leave you, who would fight for you, who would put you first always."Someone like me, he didn't say, but the implication hung in the air between them."Maybe," Lisa said softly. "But I don't think I
CHAPTER 38 PART 1
Alex's hand trembled slightly, the cleaning spray he'd been using nearly slipping from his grip. The sight of Mia standing there in nothing but a silk bathrobe, her hair cascading over her shoulders, her legs bare—it was enough to make any man lose his composure."I—uh—" Alex stammered, turning quickly back to the counter he'd been wiping. "Good morning. Or afternoon. Whatever."Mia's lips curved into an amused smirk. She brought the coffee cup to her lips, taking a slow, deliberate sip while her eyes never left Alex. Then she reached up with her free hand and twirled a strand of her blonde hair around her finger, a gesture that was both innocent and utterly devastating."What's the problem, Alex?" she asked, her voice carrying a teasing lilt. "You look like you've seen a ghost.""Nothing," Alex said quickly, perhaps too quickly. "No problem at all. Just... surprised to see you home. Shouldn't you be at the office? It's Thursday. Don't you usually have meetings on Thursdays?"Mia padd
CHAPTER 38 PART 2
Alex shook his head, moving away from her to put some distance between them. This felt too much like charity, like Mia was trying to rescue him again. "I appreciate the offer, but—""Before you say no, hear me out," Mia interrupted, following him. "The position pays well. Sixty thousand starting salary, with benefits and bonuses. That's enough to cover your rent here and then some. You'd have your own office, a company phone, access to our facilities. It's a real job, Alex, not a handout.""Sixty thousand?" Alex's eyes widened. That was more than he made as a firefighter. "Mia, that's too much. You're just—""I'm offering you fair compensation for a demanding job," Mia cut in. "My last assistant quit because she couldn't handle the hours and the pressure. This isn't charity, Alex. I genuinely need someone, and I think you'd be perfect for the role."Alex ran a hand through his hair, conflicted. Part of him was tempted. The money would be good, more than good. He could pay Mia proper r