A SON IN LAW TURNS BILLIONAIRE AFTER DIVORCE

Chapter 17

Susan stopped dead beside Leonard's table, towering over him with her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowed into sharp, venomous slits. She sneered down at him, her lip curling with pure disgust.

“And you actually have the damn nerve to accuse me of cheating?” she shot back, her voice ringing out across the quiet second-floor dining area. “When you’re sitting here in an expensive restaurant with a lover on the side?”

The stunning woman sitting directly across from Leonard didn't flinch. She slowly set down her cloth napkin, adjusted her black-framed glasses with one polished finger, and turned her cool, dark eyes onto Susan.

"Ms. Miller, correct?" she said, her voice dropping into a smooth, icy register that held absolute authority. "That reckless accusation alone legally qualifies as actionable defamation. I'll let it slide this once as a courtesy, but if you make another baseless claim like that without hard evidence, I won't hesitate to file against you personally."

Susan froze, her mouth remaining slightly agape.

Leonard leaned back in his chair, a relaxed, amused smile touching his face. "Susan, meet Sophia Dean. She's one of the lead attorneys representing me."

The room seemed to spin slightly under Susan's feet. An attorney?!

That couldn't be right. She knew for a fact that Leonard had gone to Thomas Stone—Sydvale's most famous, terrifying divorce lawyer. He hadn't hired some glamorous, drop-dead gorgeous woman who looked like she belonged on a fashion runway instead of a courtroom floor!

Her eyes involuntarily swept down over Sophia's sharp blazer, her narrow waist, and her breathtaking figure. A bitter wave of insecurity flared up in Susan's chest. That chest has to be fake. And that waist? Definitely had cosmetic work done. No woman looks like that naturally.

Yet, there was no mistaking the cold, razor-sharp aura radiating off the woman. She was clearly another high-powered lawyer from Stone's firm, sent to handle the routine face-to-face filings with Leonard.

Damn it! Susan thought, her face burning like fire. She had walked straight into a trap, making a complete, hysterical fool of herself in front of a woman who probably billed thousands an hour just to crush people like her.

The humiliation burned intensely behind Susan's eyes, but she gritted her teeth and forced her chin up, refusing to let them see her sweat.

"Enjoy acting smug while you still can, Leonard," Susan said coldly, folding her arms tight against her chest. "Tomorrow morning, my attorney is filing an emergency petition with the court to freeze every single one of your bank accounts so you can't keep recklessly wasting our marital property."

That was the exact line Jonathan and her lawyer, Joe Dexter, had rehearsed with her to intimidate Leonard into surrendering.

"Sure. Go ahead and try," Leonard actually chuckled, picking up his fork.

The casual laughter made Susan's blood boil. Did she honestly believe a city judge would just blindly freeze hundreds of millions of dollars of a private citizen's money simply because an ex-wife threw a tearful tantrum?

"We'll see who gets the last laugh!" Susan spun around on her high heels, her face flushed red, and stormed back toward the Miller family table.

Her stomach was twisting in knots. She hadn't even taken a single bite of her expensive food, but she was already completely full from pure, choking anger.

Across the room, Leonard's faint laugh faded, though the dark, predatory coldness in his eyes never truly disappeared as he watched the Millers murmur among themselves.

Sophia watched him quietly. Sitting this close, she finally understood what was really going on here.

Leonard didn't care about the money he might win back from them. He had already explicitly instructed Thomas Stone's firm to donate every single cent of recovered damages directly to charity, while paying astronomical legal fees out of his own pocket without a second thought.

This whole lawsuit wasn't about financial gain. He simply hated the Miller family with such a deep, burning passion that making them lose sleep, waste money, and slowly go insane with anxiety was worth every dollar he spent.

A soft, knowing smile curved Sophia's glossy lips. Leaning forward, she playfully shifted her chair a few inches closer to Leonard, resting her elbows on the tablecloth.

Leonard caught her eye and immediately understood what she was doing. What a smart, sharp woman, he thought.

He leaned in toward her as well, resting his chin on his hand.

From across the dining room, the two of them looked unmistakably intimate—their heads close together, whispering softly with smiles on their faces. In reality, they weren't discussing anything important at all; Sophia was just asking him what dessert he recommended. But they were putting on a brilliant, silent show for the table across the room.

And it worked like a charm.

Susan stared at them from her chair, her grip on her fork turning her knuckles white. She felt like her head was about to explode into flames! Attorney and client?! Bullshit! Does a professional attorney need to lean in that close to her client's face?! They're practically touching!

The sight of Leonard—the man who used to sleep on the edge of her bed, meekly waiting for her permission to speak—now laughing effortlessly with a woman ten times more stunning than her was a knife straight to her ego.

"I'm going home," Susan snapped, slamming her napkin down. She grabbed her leather purse and marched toward the carpeted stairs without waiting for her family.

She had completely lost her appetite.

The moment Susan's figure disappeared down the staircase, Leonard leaned back into the plush leather booth and let out a long breath. "Thanks for playing along, Sophia."

Sophia gave him a wide, innocent look through her black-framed glasses. "Playing along? Whatever do you mean, Mr. Buck? I was just giving my favorite client my full, undivided attention."

Leonard chuckled softly, shaking his head.

After they finished lunch, Leonard walked her out to the curb, hailed a taxi for her, and watched the yellow car pull away into the city traffic before turning to walk back toward his rented home in Maple Grove.

Sophia was undeniably captivating. Beautiful, sharp as a razor, consideration personified, and possessing a figure that was practically impossible for any man not to notice.

It was a shame he had zero interest in romantic games anymore. His previous life had taught him the ultimate, brutal lesson: in a world on the brink of destruction, emotional attachments were a luxury that could get you killed.

Still... Leonard thought, looking up at the afternoon sky, maybe things will be different after the freeze hits. When the world outside descended into a chaotic, frozen hell while he sat safely inside his armored, heated fortress, enjoying gourmet meals and every luxury imaginable... maybe then, he would give Sophia a call.

Right now, Leonard had far more critical, life-or-death matters occupying his mind.

Once the apocalypse began in less than ninety days, the sun would be buried under endless ice storms and complete darkness. He didn't know exactly how many years the global freeze would last, but sunlight and fresh air would become nonexistent. His physical condition was going to matter enormously. The stronger, faster, and more resilient his body was, the better his odds of surviving extreme temperatures, airborne illnesses, and physical combat.

I need a rigorous daily training regime starting tomorrow, he resolved.

Then, there was the issue of defense—specifically, firearms and heavy tactical gear. Leonard knew human nature all too well. The moment the apocalypse struck and the Millers realized he had stockpiled mountains of food and fuel, their pathetic desperation would turn into lethal greed. When they discovered he would never give them a single grain of rice, they would run around the neighborhood, telling everyone that he was hoarding supplies.

The entire neighborhood would turn into a bloodthirsty mob and come straight for his front gate.

"So I need enough heavy firepower to turn this entire estate into an absolute death trap," Leonard muttered under his breath.

By the time he finished mapping out his tactical supply chain in his head, he was already standing outside his front door.

A little after five in the evening, his phone chimed on the kitchen counter. A text message from Sophia.

Had a wonderful time today, Leonard. Thanks for the lunch. Get some rest tonight!

Leonard stared at the glowing screen for a moment, a dry, bitter laugh escaping his lips.

He remembered his past life all too clearly. Back when he had been desperately chasing Susan, trying to earn a crumb of her affection, he would send her ten long, thoughtful text messages before getting a single, dry word back. And even then, she would leave him waiting on 'Read' for hours just to show him his place.

Now, the dynamic was completely flipped.

Why? Leonard glanced at his phone screen, opened his banking app, and looked at the glowing balance.

$398,420,000.00

"Money really is a hell of a thing, isn't it?" he whispered.