The Unrivalled Return Of Lord Valerian

CHAPTER 2 - TWICE AS FREE

"What is this?" Valerian's gaze snapped to Keeya. "Why are you with him? What is he doing here?”

“How are you, Val?” Keeya asked, genuine concern crossing her features.

“How am I? Are you seriously asking me that?” Valerian frowned, glancing at Neil whose smirk didn't falter one second, his hand continuously rubbing Keeya's waist. “What is he doing?”

"Actually, I'm really not here to exchange words with you." She reached into her handbag, pulled out a folder, and threw it at his chest.

It struck him and fell open at his feet—divorce papers, his name and hers printed side by side. "I'm here because I need you to sign that. I want a divorce."

He blinked down at it. "Is this a joke?"

"No, Val. I just simply want a divorce." Her voice was flat, rehearsed. As though she had spent time in front of the mirror, practicing the speech over and over again

"I know this is unexpected, but I need you to understand that it's a step I have to take for my future. Neil is a much better match for me."

Neil smirked, pulling her closer, pressing a kiss to her temple as watched Valerian's face the whole time like a man savoring the aftertaste of a good meal.

“You came all the way from the city, just to serve me papers?” Valerian frowned, unable to comprehend the incredibility of the situation.

“Well, I could have just served it to you when you get back to the city… but I wouldn't want people who know me to see me around you. I had to come do this discreetly.” She stated nonchalantly.

"Three years," Valerian said, voice shaking now — not with sadness, but the first tremor of fury. "I went to prison for three years protecting you from him. Every night in there, I told myself it was worth it because you were safe and waiting. And this is what I come home to?"

"You did this to yourself," she said, almost bored. "I never asked you to touch him. I never asked you to go to prison for me. That was your choice, your stupidity, and I am done paying for it.”

"I did it to protect you!" Valerian's voice cracked, his heart pounding against his rib, trying to convince himself that this was a prank. "He was going to force himself on you, Keeya! What was I supposed to do? Stand there and watch while he—”

"You were supposed to think!" Keeya yelled, her face burning red. "You were supposed to think about what would happen to me while you played the hero.”

Valerian tilted his head in shock, unable to believe what he just heard.

“Do you know what it's like, Valerian, being married to a convict? Do you know how many deals I lost because investors wouldn't sit across a table from the wife of a criminal?”

“We both know I'm only a criminal on file! Neil hurt himself trying to attack me, remember?” Valerian raised his brows.

"That file is exactly why I've had to work twice as hard for everything I have now. I am the CEO of my own company. Do you understand that? CEO. And a man like you, fresh out of a cage, is not someone I can be seen standing beside anymore.”

Valerian laughed, humorless.

"Your company," he said slowly, "was nothing but a name on a lease three years ago. You had no capital. No investors. No one believed in you."

He took a step closer, and for the first time, Keeya's composure flickered, just slightly. "I emptied my savings account so you could open those doors. Every desk, every chair, every salary you paid that first year, it came from me. But now, I'm unworthy?”

She didn't think twice before reaching into her bag and pulling out a check of 1million dollars, and dropped it at his feet.

"Take the money and sign the damn papers. Don't waste my time — Vallencourt Group is entering the city, and Neil has a relative on the inside who can get me the partnership. If it goes through, my company stops being second-tier and becomes an empire. I have a real future now. One you can't be part of. So, act your age.”

Valerian looked at the check, then looked at her.

He did not take it.

"I don't want your money, Keeya." His voice had gone eerily calm now.

He crouched, picked up the divorce papers from where they'd fallen, and without so much as glancing at the numbers on that cheque, signed his name beneath hers.

"There," he said, holding the document out to her. "You're free.”

Keeya blinked, clearly having expected a fight, a plea, something to savor, but Valerian didn't give him that satisfaction.

She scoffed instead, snatching the papers from his hand. "Still trying to look noble? Just stop it. It's pathetic."

Neil laughed out loud. "Better take the check if you don't want to die poor. I don't think anyone wants to employ an alumni of Hellave.”

He tugged Keeya toward the car, already bored of the show.

But then Keeya paused, one hand on the door, and turned back almost as an afterthought. "Oh — your mother." Dryly, like a footnote. "She's dying. Go get her out of my house before she does it there. Wouldn't want that kind of bad luck following my property."

They were gone before the words fully landed. Panic tore through the wreckage of his heartbreak.

He spun on his heel, ready to run to find a taxi and he nearly collided with the front bumper of another car that had glided silently to the curb behind him.

This one made Keeya's car look like a rental.

The door opened, and a woman stepped out who made the entire street seem to hold its breath: tall, commanding, dressed in an understated elegance that announced wealth louder than gold ever could.

She made Keeya look ordinary by comparison.

Valerian, disoriented and desperate to leave, barely spared her a glance before turning away — until a sharp voice stopped him cold.

"Hey you! Do you have any idea who you're being so disrespectful to? This is Madam Minerva Gentry. President of the Vallencourt Group."

Valerian froze. Vallencourt?

The young lady raised a hand, silencing her assistant without even looking at him. Her gaze settled on Valerian, studying him for a second, a smile curving her lips.

"You've kept me waiting," she said at last, her voice smooth, carrying easily over the noise of the street.

“Excuse me?” Valerian coughed.

Minerva's smile only deepened. She tilted her head, and took a step closer to Valerian.

"When," she asked softly, "are we getting married, my future husband?”