After Divorce, I Ruled Their World

The Same Hotel

Chapter 7: The Same Hotel 

The car ride was quiet. Iris stared out the window at the blur of buildings, her mind a jumbled mess. She was sitting in a super fancy car with a man she just met, going to see a house he owned. This was crazy. But after the cemetery, and the drugs, and losing her home… crazy felt normal now.

Julian drove smoothly, his eyes on the road. He didn’t talk, which was good because Iris didn’t know what to say. Thank you? Again? Yell at him because his company ruined hers? It was all too confusing.

Soon, they pulled up to the fanciest hotel Iris had ever seen. It was called The Orion, and it looked like a giant glass castle. Valets in sharp suits rushed to open doors for people. Her heart sank. This was his ‘vacant property’? A hotel?

“This… this is a hotel,” she said, her voice small.

“The penthouse is on the top floor,” Julian said simply, getting out. “It’s private. Come on.”

He said it like it was no big deal. A penthouse! Iris felt her old jeans and wrinkled shirt suddenly. She looked like a lost kitten next to him. But she followed him, her shoes squeaking on the shiny marble floor.

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Meanwhile, in the grand tea room of The Orion, the air smelled like fancy flowers and expensive cake. Helena, Julian’s mother-in-law, sat like a queen at a round table with her two friends, Beatrice and Cynthia.

“Oh, Helena, you must be so proud!” Beatrice gushed, sipping her tea with her pinky finger sticking out. “Vivian hosting her celebration here! The Orion! My son-in-law could never afford the entrance f*e!”

Cynthia nodded, her big pearls bouncing. “And booking you the presidential suite! So thoughtful! It’s all thanks to that wonderful new man of hers, Lucas, isn’t it?”

Helena’s smile was so wide it looked like it hurt her face. She pretended to wave a hand, like it was nothing. “Oh, stop it. Lucas just wants to take care of us. He’s so… capable.” She said ‘capable’ while thinking of Julian, was not capable at all.

The friends leaned in. They could smell gossip like dogs smell bacon.

“So… it’s really over with Julian?” Beatrice whispered, her eyes glittering. “Vivian finally came to her senses and accepted Lucas’s proposal?”

Helena couldn’t hold it in anymore. She gave a slow, proud nod. “The divorce is practically done. Julian signed the papers himself! And Lucas… well, he’s already bought their wedding home. Right here in this hotel, in the penthouse above the suites!”

The friends gasped with delight, clapping their hands softly. “Oh, you must show us! We have to see it!”

Filled with pride and wanting to show off, Helena stood up. “Why not? Lucas gave me a key. Let’s go take a peek!”

Giggling like schoolgirls, the three women left the tea room and headed for the private elevators.

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Julian led Iris to a different, super-secret elevator with golden doors. It went straight up without stopping. When the doors opened, Iris’s mouth fell open.

It wasn’t a house. It was a whole sky palace! The entire wall was glass, showing the whole city like a sparkling toy set below. The furniture was sleek and modern, and everything was spotlessly clean and quiet.

“This… this is too much,” Iris stammered, hugging herself. “I can’t accept this. We’re strangers. This is charity.”

Julian walked over to the window, his hands in his pockets. He needed her to say yes. He felt so guilty. How could he make her understand?

Then, he had an idea. A little lie.

“We’re not strangers in business,” he said, not looking at her. “I know Lumina Tech. I tried to invest in your company a while back. I admired your work. But I couldn’t get a share.” This part was almost true. He had heard of it. “Think of this,” he waved his hand around the huge room, “as my investment. You stay here, get back on your feet, rebuild your company. When Lumina Tech rises again, and it will, I get to benefit. It’s a business deal.”

Iris stared at him. Her eyes started to feel hot. No one had believed in her in so long. After she failed, her friends vanished. Her phone stopped ringing. She was trash to them. But this man, who saved her life, was saying he believed she could rise again. He was giving her a castle to do it from.

Tears spilled down her cheeks, but she was smiling. “You… you really think I can do it?”

“I know you can,” Julian said, and for the first time today, his smile was real, not sad or weak.

He took a set of keys from his pocket and handed them to her. They felt heavy and cold. “It’s yours for as long as you need. Call me if anything comes up. Anything at all.”

Overwhelmed, Iris just nodded, clutching the keys. She walked with him back toward the elevator, still looking around in awe.

As they reached the elevator doors, Julian pressed the button. The golden doors slid open with a quiet ding.

And there, on the other side, about to get on, were Helena, Beatrice, and Cynthia.

For a second, nobody moved. It was like someone pressed pause on the world.

Helena’s proud, happy face melted into pure, ugly shock. Her eyes bulged. She looked at Julian, then at the beautiful, tearful young woman beside him in the doorway of the penthouse. She saw iris clutching the keys to her daughter’s future wedding home!

“JULIAN?!” Helena shrieked, her voice like a nail on a chalkboard in the quiet hallway. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!”