ANMELDEN“What? How’s this possible?” Eleanor asked, shocked. “What are you doing here?”Roman stood there — suit rumpled, jaw bruised, eyes blazing with quiet fury.His grip tightened around Eleanor’s wrist.“Let me go, you son of a bitch!” she growled, trying to pull free.“Don’t,” Roman said quietly.His voice was calm, but it carried a warning that made the room feel suddenly smaller.“Don’t you ever think you can lay a hand on my mother,” he continued, his eyes fixed on her. “Ever again.”For a moment, neither of them moved.Then Roman released her sharply.Eleanor jerked her arm back immediately, rubbing her wrist where his fingers had held it. Her eyes burned with fury as she stared at him.Salima still hadn’t moved.She stood there frozen, staring at Roman as if she wasn’t sure he was real.Roman turned to her.“Are you okay?” he asked quietly.Salima blinked, as if waking up from a dream.“Yes… I— I’m fine,” she said quickly. Her eyes scanned his face, lingering on the bruise on his
Salima sat at the head of the table, hands clasped tight.“How long until the lawyer gets here?” she asked for the sixth time in the past fifteen minutes.Victor glanced at his phone.“He said he’s on his way,” he replied calmly. “Traffic.”Salima exhaled slowly but didn’t relax.Across from her, Alec leaned back in his chair, staring down at the table.After some minutes, the front door opened somewhere down the hall.Footsteps approached quickly and a moment later the lawyer stepped into the dining room, loosening his tie.“Sorry I’m late,” Marcus said. “The courthouse held me longer than expected.”Salima leaned forward immediately. “Well?” she asked.The lawyer hesitated.Victor noticed it first. “What happened?”Marcus placed his briefcase on the table. “It’s not good news.”Alec straightened. “What kind of not good news?”“The judge denied the emergency review we requested tomorrow,” Marcus explained. “Roman’s next hearing stays where it is.”Salima frowned. “When is that?”Marc
Tessa walked slowly along the empty road, her arms wrapped around herself as if she could somehow hold the pieces of her heart together. Her steps were uneven, her heels scraping the pavement more than walking on it.Roman’s voice wouldn’t leave her head.“There is no “us.””Her throat tightened when she remembered.“Hate requires emotion. What I feel for you now… is nothing.”A sob escaped her before she could stop it.Her eyes were swollen, her vision blurred with tears she couldn’t seem to stop. She wiped at them with shaking hands, but more kept falling.“Before I come home, I want you out of my house.”Tessa stumbled slightly, gripping onto a streetlight. Her breathing came out in broken bursts as the memory of his cold eyes replayed again and again.She kept walking. She didn’t even know where she was going.Then a car pulled up slowly beside the road ahead of her, its headlights cutting through the darkness. The engine idled quietly.Tessa didn’t notice.The driver’s door sudd
The clang of a metal door echoed through the corridor.Roman looked up from where he sat on the bench. He had now removed his suit jacket; his shirt was untucked and his buttons loose, revealing his toned chest.Footsteps followed, slow and steady, and a guard appeared outside the bars a moment later.“Sir,” the guard said. “You have a visitor.”Roman frowned slightly. “Who is it?”The guard glanced down at the clipboard in his hand.“Mrs Blackwood.”Roman’s brow furrowed. “My mother?”The guard shook his head. “No, sir. Your wife.”Roman’s face went blank.The guard stepped aside and a second pair of footsteps approached, slower this time.Then Tessa appeared.She stopped a few feet from the bars, her hands clasped together as if she wasn’t sure what to do with them.For a moment, neither of them spoke.Roman looked at her quietly. “What are you doing here?”Tessa shifted slightly under his gaze.“I just wanted to see how you were doing.”Roman didn’t respond.She hesitated, then add
The sound of tyres crunching on the gravel came from the quiet driveway as the Blackwood cars pulled up one after the other.High above the entrance, Tessa stood on the balcony outside her and Roman’s bedroom.She had been standing there for nearly twenty minutes, gripping the railing so tightly her fingers had begun to ache.Her eyes were fixed on the driveway. The first car door opened. Alec stepped out. Then Davin and the lawyer.In the second car, Nandini stepped out slowly, Lakshmi behind her, then Victor. Salima emerged last.Tessa leaned forward slightly, scanning the cars. Her heart began to pound. Roman didn’t get out.She waited. Another moment passed — still no Roman.Her stomach dropped. The front door opened downstairs and the family stepped inside.Tessa remained frozen on the balcony for a few seconds longer, staring at the empty driveway as the realisation slowly sank in.He wasn’t coming home — at least not today. Her chest tightened.Inside the house, the tension wa
Roman’s footsteps echoed sharply against the concrete walls as he paced the length of the holding cell for what felt like the hundredth time.Across the bars, Davin stood beside Marcus James and Alec, watching him carefully.Roman suddenly stopped pacing and turned on them.“What the hell happened?” His voice cracked through the quiet hallwayNone of them answered immediately.Roman let out a short, humourless laugh and dragged a hand through his hair.“No, seriously,” he continued, his voice rising. “Explain it to me because I must have missed something back there. You told me I was walking out of that courtroom today.”His eyes locked on Marcus.“You said bail was almost guaranteed.”Marcus held his ground, calm but tense. “We believed it was—”“Well, clearly it wasn’t,” Roman snapped, cutting him off. He took a step toward the bars.“So tell me why I’m still sitting in this damn cell.”Marcus exhaled slowly.“The prosecution came in stronger than we expected.”Roman scoffed. “Stron
Tessa stirred beneath the heavy silk sheets, a low ache pulsing between her thighs every time she shifted.She was sore, deliciously, brutally sore, the kind of ache that reminded her exactly how deep Roman had been, how hard he’d taken her on that cold kitchen counter just hours ago. Her skin sti
The front doors blew open before Klara’s hand even touched them.Cold morning air swept in, curling through the foyer like a cursed spirit.And there he stood.Grayson.Tall, crisp suit, shirt open at the throat. Calm, collected, and far too comfortable in a house that didn’t welcome him with open
Tessa padded into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes, one hand on the edge of the counter as she reached for a glass. She stood barefoot in one of Roman’s oversized T-shirts, as she poured the cold water into the glass.The air smelled faintly of the chamomile tea Klara had been drinking, now spilt acr
Klara tore through her room as if she were trying to rip the walls apart. Clothes hit the bed, the floor, the open suitcase—none of it mattered. Her hands were shaking, not from sadness, but from pure, blistering rage.She yanked a dress from the hanger so hard the hook snapped.“Two months,” she m







