LOGINChapter 20: Damian’s POVI slammed the front door of my house so hard the glass side panels rattled in their frames.I threw my car keys onto the entry table, ripped off my tie, and walked straight into the living room to pour myself a drink. My hands were shaking—not from fear, but from the raw, suffocating anger that had been building since Elena walked into my press conference with those lawyers.Before I could even get the cap off the bottle, the front door burst open again.Aunt Lydia marched into the room, her designer coat disheveled, her hair sticking to her forehead with sweat. She had shoved past my gate security, and her face was red, her chest heaving as she gasped for air."You lied to me!" she screamed, her voice cracking as she marched straight across the rug toward me. "You told me she had nothing! You swore on your career that those old records were destroyed when the publishing house went under!""Shut your mouth and sit down, Lydia," I said, pointing the glass
Chapter 19: Elena’s POVThe morning news was playing on the wall-mounted television in Carter’s kitchen, but the sound was muted.I didn't need the volume on to know what Aunt Lydia was saying. The banner across the bottom of the screen was clear enough: EXCLUSIVE: EX-WIFE’S FAMILY BREAKS SILENCE ON WHITMORE ESTATE.On the screen, Aunt Lydia sat in a brightly lit studio, dabbing at the corners of her eyes with a tissue while the host nodded along with a pained expression. Right below her face, the producers had put up a graphic of the signed affidavit Damian’s legal team had leaked to the press at five o'clock this morning."You don't have to watch that," Carter said, stepping into the kitchen and setting a fresh mug of black coffee on the counter near my hand."I'm not watching her," I said, keeping my voice flat. "I'm watching the document.""Our legal team already cross-referenced the filing timestamp," Carter said, leaning his hands against the marble counter beside me. "Dam
Chapter 18: Damian’s POVI sat behind my mahogany desk, swirling two fingers of scotch in a crystal glass while Aunt Lydia finished her third glass across from me.The soft leather armchair she sat in made her look small, but the bitterness in her eyes was larger than anyone I had ever brought into this office. Her face was still flushed from her showdown at Carter Vance's residence, but she wasn't crying. She was fuming.I took a slow sip, looking at her over the rim of my glass."You're sure she didn't record you?" I asked, keeping my voice steady and measured."Elena doesn't have the brains to record a conversation in her own foyer," Lydia snapped, setting her glass down on the polished wood with a loud thud. "She was too shocked. The girl actually thought she could speak to me with that smug, arrogant tone and get away with it."I leaned back, resting my elbows on the armrests. "Sending that photo to her cell phone was a nice touch. I can guarantee you she didn't sleep a win
Chapter 17: Elena’s POVMy head was still turned to the side, my left cheek burning hot from the strike. The sharp, bitter taste of blood filled my mouth where my inner lip had caught against my tooth.I didn't cry. I didn't reach up to cup my face, and I didn't stumble back.I turned my head slowly, pulled my spine up straight, and looked Aunt Lydia dead in the eye."Is that all you came here to do?" I asked, my voice low, flat, and completely steady.Aunt Lydia’s hand was still hovering in the air, her fingers trembling slightly. Her face was flushed, her eyes wide with a deep, toxic rage that had clearly been festering for a long time.Before she could raise her arm again, Carter stepped into the space between us. He didn't touch her, but his massive frame completely cut off her path to me. His face was stone cold, his jaw set tight as he looked down at her."You have five seconds to walk out that door, ma'am," Carter said. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a dangerous,
Chapter 16: Elena’s POVThe air inside the federal courtroom smelled like old paper and floor wax.I sat at the wooden table, my hands resting flat on top of my tablet. To my right, Carter sat with his broad shoulders squared, looking straight ahead as Damian’s lawyer stood at the podium, waving a stack of papers around."Your Honor, the defense is hiding behind corporate tricks," Damian’s lawyer shouted, pointing his pen at our table. "Elena Whitmore walked out of Blackwell Entertainment with custom mixing templates and session logs that belong to her ex-husband’s label. This quick marriage to Mr. Vance is just a move to hide stolen assets.""The entity named in your filing is Whitmore Legacy Holdings, counsel," Judge Miller said, tapping his pen on his desk. He looked down at the files with tired eyes. "Vance Media filed the corporate registration papers three weeks before you filed your injunction. You served the wrong entity. I am not freezing an active company over a mistake
Chapter 15: Damian’s POVI stood in the doorway of Studio B, looking at my ex-wife.Elena was leaning against the console, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. Her hair was slightly damp from the rain outside, her coat pulled tight around her shoulders. She looked exhausted, her face pale under the fluorescent studio lights, but her eyes were still burning with that stubborn, infuriating defiance she had been carrying around since the day she walked out on me.I hated that look.I hated that she hadn't come crawling back to my house after I froze her personal accounts. I hated that she had gone straight to live radio to embarrass me in front of my board of directors. I hated her for the night of the studio fire years ago—when the smoke was thick and I was trapped under the fallen light rig, screaming her name, and she ran out the side exit to save her mother’s master tapes instead of staying to pull me out. I had carried the faint burn scars on my shoulder ever since, but t







