The House Husband is a Secret Tycoon

Chapter Six

Panic flashed across Colette's face like lightning.

Her hands gripped the divorce papers so tightly they crumpled at the edges. Her eyes, wide and disbelieving, searched Julian's face for some sign that this was a joke, some terrible misunderstanding.

"Why?" she demanded, her voice shaking. "Why are you bringing up divorce?"

Julian looked at her with cold, detached eyes. "Because I don't love you anymore."

The words landed like physical blows.

Colette's face went pale, then flushed red. Tears welled up in her eyes but she blinked them back furiously.

"Is it just because I asked you to apologize?" she cried out. "You're doing this because I asked you to apologize to Sebastian?"

Julian's expression didn't change. "Is that not enough?"

"Enough?" Colette's voice rose to a near-shriek. "You're going to throw away everything we've built together over the past three years? Everything we've shared? You're going to discard our entire history because of one argument?"

She took a step toward him, her face twisted with fury and desperation.

"You're consumed by jealousy," she spat.

"That's what this is really about. You can't handle the fact that Sebastian is successful and important and you're just –"

She stopped herself, but the damage was already done.

Julian let out a cold laugh that made her flinch.

"Jealousy?" he repeated, his voice quiet and dangerous. "You want to talk about jealousy?"

He took a step forward and Colette instinctively stepped back.

"Let's talk about last month," Julian said, his voice steady and measured. "When I had that meeting with my former college advisor—the one who could have helped me get back into my field. You made me cancel it because Sebastian needed you at some dinner. You said it was important. That it couldn't wait."

Colette's mouth opened but no words came out.

"Or two weeks ago," Julian continued, "when my mother called and asked if we could visit for her birthday. You said no because Sebastian had invited you to some networking event. You didn't even ask me if I wanted to go see my own mother."

Guilt flickered across Colette's face but she tried to mask it with anger.

"That's not –" she started.

"Or three days ago," Julian cut her off, his voice getting colder with each word, "when I asked if we could have dinner together. Just the two of us. For once. You said you were too busy. Then you came home at midnight smelling like his cologne."

Colette's face flushed deep red.

"Or yesterday," Julian said, stepping even closer, "when you stood in front of a room full of people and called me your stay-at-home husband who couldn't do anything for your career. When you said I was just a placeholder until Sebastian came back."

His voice dropped to barely above a whisper.

"So tell me, Colette," he said. "How dare you accuse me of jealousy?"

Colette looked away, unable to meet his eyes. Her hands trembled against the divorce papers.

"I can explain all of that," she said, her voice small and shaky. "If you'd just let me -"

"I'm not interested in your excuses," Julian said flatly. "Just sign the papers."

Colette's head snapped up, anger flooding back into her face.

"Fine!" she shouted, her voice cracking. "You want me to sign? I'll sign!"

She snatched the pen from her desk and scrawled her signature across the first page with violent, jerky movements.

"I've clearly spoiled you too much," she spat, not looking at him as she signed. "To the point where a mere stay-at-home son-in-law dares to speak to me like this. Dares to make demands. Dares to think he has any power in this relationship."

Julian's expression turned to ice.

"There it is again," he said quietly.

Colette looked up at him, confusion breaking through her anger.

"You finally revealed your true colors," Julian continued, his voice cold and calm. "You look down on me because of my status as a house husband. Even though I only took that role because you asked me to. Even though I resigned from my job, gave up my career, moved into your family's home – all of it – because I loved you."

The words hung in the air between them.

Colette's hand, still gripping the pen, went slack. The anger drained from her face, replaced by something that looked uncomfortably like shame.

"Julian, I..." She stopped, swallowed hard. "I didn't mean it like that."

She set the pen down carefully, her movements slow and deliberate.

"Everyone's being irrational today," she said, her voice taking on a pleading quality. "We're both emotional. We're saying things we don't mean."

She picked up the signed papers and held them out to him.

"If you give these back to me," she said softly, "I'll tear them up right now. We can pretend none of this ever happened. We can start fresh. Put everything behind us and move forward."

She gave him what she probably thought was a gentle smile, the kind that had worked on him a thousand times before.

"What do you say?" she asked.

She expected the olive branch to work. Julian could see it in her eyes, in the way she held the papers out to him like an offering, in the slight relaxation of her shoulders.

She genuinely believed he would take them back, that he would fold, the way he always did.

Julian reached out and took the papers from her hands.

Colette's face brightened immediately. "Good," she breathed. "That's good. Now we can just –"

Julian turned and walked toward the door.

"Wait," Colette said, confusion creeping into her voice. "What are you doing? Julian, wait!"

He didn't stop or look back.

"Julian!" Colette's voice rose, panic replacing confusion. "Come back here! We're not done talking about this!"

Julian pulled the door open.

Sebastian, who had been standing silently in the corner this whole time, finally spoke up.

"Colette, let him go," he said, his voice smooth and confident. "He's just throwing a tantrum. He'll come back once he realizes he has nowhere else to go."

Julian paused in the doorway.

For a brief moment, he considered turning around. Considered saying something that would wipe that smug expression off Sebastian's face but he didn't.

Sebastian wasn't worth the energy. Julian walked out and let the door close behind him.

He could hear Colette calling after him, her voice getting shriller with each step he took down the hallway. He ignored it.

The elevator doors were still open. He stepped inside and pressed the button for the ground floor.

As the elevator descended, Julian unfolded the divorce papers and looked at Colette's hasty but unmistakable signature. It was done.

The elevator reached the lobby and the doors opened.

Gianna's car was still parked outside, exactly where she'd left it. Julian walked out of the building and got into the passenger seat.

Gianna looked at him, her expression calm and expectant.

"How did it go?" she asked.

Julian held up the signed papers.

Gianna's eyebrows rose slightly. "She signed?"

"She signed," Julian confirmed.

"Good." Gianna started the car.

Julian folded the papers carefully and tucked them back into his jacket pocket. He looked out the window at Mercer & Co's building, at the lights still burning on the twentieth floor where Colette's office was.

He felt nothing.

"Withdraw all aid and support from her company," Julian said, his voice flat and final. "Immediately. Pull the contracts. Recall David Park. Everything. I don't want to have a single shred of connection with that woman ever again.”