Sebastian leaned forward, his expression shifting to one of concern, though his eyes still gleamed with barely concealed satisfaction."Colette," he said gently, reaching out to touch her arm. "Maybe you shouldn't escalate this. Things are already tense. If you push too hard –""It's fine," Colette snapped, pulling away from his touch.She stood and began pacing behind her desk, her heels clicking sharply against the floor."I have to teach him a lesson," she said, her voice hard. "He needs to understand that he can't just walk away from me. That he can't just disrespect me and expect no consequences."Sebastian sat back, watching her with that same glittering expression."If you think that's best," he said quietly.Colette grabbed her phone and scrolled through her contacts, her fingers moving quickly.Richard Burton. Her business manager. The man who handled all of her company's partnerships and client relationships.She pressed call and lifted the phone to her ear.But before the f

Julian picked up the house keys from the dresser, his movements calm and deliberate.He held them out to Colette without a word.She snatched them from his hand, her chest heaving with fury and something else – and panic. Julian turned back to his suitcase, zipped it closed, and grabbed the handle.He walked toward the bedroom door, dragging the suitcase behind him, its wheels rolling smoothly across the hardwood floor.Colette stood frozen, watching him go, a half-empty wine glass clutched in her hand.She'd been drinking since she got home, trying to numb the catastrophic day, trying to make sense of everything that had fallen apart.The wine sat bitter and acidic in her stomach.As Julian reached the hallway, something in her throat constricted. She tried to swallow, tried to breathe, but her chest felt tight.She coughed once, then again, the sound harsh and violent.The wine glass slipped from her fingers and shattered on the floor.Julian kept walking.She watched his back as h

Marcus Mercer's voice cut through the conference room like a blade."And another thing," he said, his eyes blazing. "That core contract – the one that saved this company three years ago – was signed in January. Do you know where Sebastian Kane was in January three years ago?"Colette stared at him blankly."He was still in London," Marcus said. "He didn't return to this country until last month. So how exactly did he secure a contract from overseas when he wasn't even in the damn country?"The room went silent. Colette felt her stomach drop.Marcus stood, his chair scraping loudly against the floor."You're going to fix this," he said coldly. "You're going to go to Apex Innovations personally, bow your head, apologize, and do whatever it takes to save that contract. I don't care if you have to grovel. I don't care if you have to beg. You will fix this mess you've created."Colette's face burned with humiliation. "Father –""Now," Marcus said, his tone leaving no room for argument.Col

Julian stared at the text message for a long time.Then he put his phone in his pocket.He wasn't going because of the threat. Colette could withhold the divorce papers all she wanted—that was a problem he would deal with when Monday came. That wasn't why he was going.He thought about Linda.In three years of living in that house, she had been the only one who treated him like a human being. While Marcus humiliated him at every opportunity and Colette looked through him like he was furniture, Linda had quietly, consistently shown him kindness that cost her nothing but meant everything.She made him soup. Lotus root, his favorite, because she'd noticed once that he'd had two bowls and filed it away without a word. She brought it to him without fanfare, without expecting anything in return, just because she thought he needed nourishing.She defended him when Marcus went too far, even though she always paid for it afterward.She deserved to hear about the divorce from him directly, not

Colette stood behind the flower bed for a long time after the call ended.The compound was quiet around her, the landscaped gardens lit by soft pathway lights, everything perfectly still.She took a slow breath, smoothed her hair back, and started walking toward the front gate.She needed to clear her head. A walk around the block, some fresh air, and then she would go back inside and deal with whatever waited for her there.She reached the intersection at the end of the road just as a set of headlights swept around the corner.She recognized the car immediately.It was a sleek red Ferrari, the kind of vehicle that turned heads even in a neighborhood like this one.And in the passenger seat, clearly visible through the window as the car passed under the streetlight –Julian.Colette stood frozen on the pavement, watching the Ferrari accelerate smoothly down the road and disappear around the bend.The stunning woman behind the wheel.Julian in the passenger seat, relaxed, like he belon