The Rejected Live-in Husband Returns

Part VI: A Grave Encounter

The city air felt different the moment Leo stepped outside the Coote mansion gates. It was no longer the suffocating atmosphere of a gilded cage, but something colder, sharper, and strangely liberating. 

Leo's eyes reddened with fury and betrayal, his heart screamed in pain. 

He walked without a destination, the crisp morning breeze doing little to clear the bitter residue from his confrontation. The signed divorce agreement felt like a lead weight in the inner pocket of his jacket. 

He had spent years building a fortress of quiet patience around his heart, and in one morning, Amelia had torn it down with the casual cruelty. 

His phone vibrated, a persistent buzz against his chest. He thought about ignoring it, letting the world fade away. 

“Hey Boss,” Olivia’s voice was bright, efficient. “Just updating you. The transfer of the Aether Ventures shares is nearly complete. The lawyers are dotting the i’s. In two days, right after she rings the bell, the entire package will be ready. It’s going to be one hell of a gift.”

The words landed like stones in the quiet pond of Leo’s grief. 

A gift. 

He had envisioned that moment a thousand times: the look on her face when she realized the anonymous benefactor, the silent partner who had secured her empire, was the husband she thought so little of. He had dreamed it would be a moment of reconciliation, of understanding. Now, the fantasy felt pathetic.

His heart sank, the bitterness rising in his throat like bile. “Cancel it,” Leo said, his voice flat and hollow.

There was a stunned silence on the other end. “Cancel? Leo, the transfer? But… it’s everything. It’s your…”

“It’s unnecessary,” Leo interrupted, his tone leaving no room for argument. He stopped walking, leaning against a lamppost as if suddenly weary. “I asked Amelia for a divorce this morning. In three days, I’m going back to collect the signed papers. As for the shares… just hold them. Handle it. I don’t care what you do with them right now. I just want… peace.”

He could almost hear the gears turning in Olivia’s head. To his surprise, after a brief pause, Olivia’s response was not one of confusion, but of quiet relief. “I understand,” he said, and Leo could hear the genuine feeling behind the words. “Frankly, boss? It’s about time. She was an anchor around your neck. You’ve carried that burden long enough. Take the peace. You’ve earned it.”

The call ended, and Leo was left with the silence again. Olivia’s approval was a small comfort, but it couldn’t fill the cavernous emptiness inside him. There was only one place he could think to go, one person he needed to see, even if she could no longer hear him.

He hailed a cab and gave the driver the name of a cemetery on the city’s outskirts. The journey was a blur of passing buildings, each one a monument to a life he wasn’t living. Soon, the urban landscape gave way to rolling hills and the quiet, solemn order of headstones.

He walked the familiar path, his footsteps soft on the damp grass. He stopped before a simple, elegant granite stone. Lin Mei, it read. Beloved Mother. He knelt, his fingers tracing the engraved characters, the cold stone a stark contrast to the warmth of his memory.

“Mom,” he whispered, the word catching in his throat. The carefully constructed walls he maintained for the world crumbled here, at her feet. “I’m sorry. I failed. I couldn’t make it work. I thought… I thought if I built her a kingdom, she would see me. But she only saw the servant standing in the corner.” He bowed his head, guilt washing over him. “You always told me to find someone who valued my heart, not what I could provide. I should have listened.”

The confession hung in the quiet air, offered up to the breeze and the silent stone. He stayed there for a long time, kneeling in the grass, the weight of his failed marriage pressing down on him. It was in this moment of profound vulnerability that he heard it—a sound that shattered the cemetery’s peace.

A woman’s cry, sharp with terror. “Get away from me! Please!”

Leo’s head snapped up. His grief was instantly replaced by a cold, focused alertness. The sound came from a denser, more wooded section of the cemetery, off the main path. He moved without a sound, his footsteps silent on the grass, his body slipping between the trees like a shadow.

He saw them. Three large, brutish men had a young woman cornered against a large oak tree. They were leering, their postures aggressive. One of them twirled a nasty-looking blade in his hand.

“Scream all you want, pretty thing,” the one with the knife sneered. “No one comes out here. Be a good girl and come along quietly. It’ll hurt less.”

The woman was trembling, her eyes wide with pure panic. She was dressed simply, in jeans and a sweater, but even in her terror, there was a delicate grace to her features.

“I said, get away!” she cried again, her voice breaking.

“Hey,” Leo’s voice cut through the tension, calm and authoritative. He stepped out from the cover of the trees.

The three men spun around, their surprise quickly turning to contemptuous amusement when they saw him. He was lean, dressed in casual clothes, and looked utterly ordinary.

“Well, look what we have here,” the leader chuckled, pointing his blade at Leo. “A hero. Get lost, pretty boy. This is none of your business. Unless you want me to carve a few new smiles into that pretty face of yours.”

A cold smirk touched Leo’s lips. The anger, the bitterness, the helplessness he’d felt all morning found a sudden, perfect outlet. “You’re no match for me,” he said, his voice dropping to a dangerous low. “Leave now, and you can walk away.”

The leader laughed and lunged. It was a clumsy, telegraphed move. Leo didn’t flinch. As the knife arced toward him, he sidestepped with fluid ease, his foot snapping up to kick the man’s wrist with brutal precision. The dagger flew from his grasp, clattering into the bushes. Before the man could even register the pain, Leo grabbed him by the jacket, using his own momentum to lift him and hurl him bodily into his two companions. All three went down in a tangled, grunting heap.

They stared up at him, their bravado gone, replaced by sheer terror. This wasn’t a random guy; this was a predator. They scrambled to their feet, muttering panicked apologies, and fled into the woods, disappearing as quickly as they had come.

Leo turned his attention to the woman. She was slumped against the tree, her body shaking uncontrollably. “It’s alright,” he said, his voice softening. “They’re gone.”

He reached out to help her up, but as his hand touched her arm, he noticed it was burning hot. Her face was flushed a deep, unnatural red, and her pupils were dilated. Her eyes struggled to focus on him.

“Th-thank you,” she stammered, her words slightly slurred. “They forced me to drink something. I f*e

l so strange.” Her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed forward.