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2026-03-27 20:09:56
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I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON 195
CHAPTER 195THALIABy the time the last paddle went down, the screen above the stage read one billion, eight hundred and forty-seven million dollars, and nobody in the ballroom could stop smiling.I went back to stand behind the podium again with my hands flat on the wood. The tears had dried on my face, and I no longer cared how I looked. The room had gone from a wall of cold shoulders to three hundred faces turned up toward me, and the sound of it was like standing in warm rain."I don't have a speech for this," I said, and a ripple of laughter went through the tables. “So I will just say thank you. To Mr. Langford, for the billion. To the Ravens, for half a billion more. To everyone who gave a million, or a hundred thousand, or whatever you had. Tonight you have given us every school in this district, and a center besides. There are children who will walk into a room next year and be seen on the day they need it. They might never know your names. But, I do. I promise you will not r
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON 194
CHAPTER 194THALIAI did not know he was out. I did not even know he could walk this far without someone holding his elbow. He did not look at me yet. He walked straight to the middle of the room, and he stopped in front of Mr. Hale.“I’ll say it again, for the people at the back.” His eyes went across the standing investors. “One billion dollars, to the children’s trauma fund, effective tonight. I have already told my lawyers.”A gasp went through the room. Somewhere behind me, a glass broke.“I came here tonight,” Brandon said, “because I wanted to see something good. And I walk in and find a room full of grown men and women getting up from their chairs because a woman they’ve known for months was insulted by a fucking press.” His voice was quiet and perfectly level, and it frightened me more than shouting would have. “I am disappointed in you. All of you.”“Mr. Langford.” Mr. Hale had gone red. “With respect, we are only thinking of the optics of...”“Thalia is a good woman.”It wa
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON 193
CHAPTER 193THALIA“Excuse me?”It came out smaller than I meant it to. My voice reached the speakers a half second late and echoed once off the far wall. I stood at the podium with the applause dying in my ears, and the woman in the gray blazer looked up at me as if I were the one who had said something strange.A pen turned slowly between her fingers.“I don’t understand why you’re acting confused, Dr. Wentworth.” She did not raise her voice, and that made it worse. “You are tied to an active criminal case, and a few minutes ago your former sister-in-law described a pattern.”She stood and turned her back on me. That was the cruelest part. She spoke to the room.“Ladies and gentlemen, whatever you think of Miss Langford, she knows this woman better than anyone here. A man in prison. Her ex-husband in a hospital bed. I’d ask you to consider whether this is someone you want to trust with your money.”At the head table, a chair scraped.Mr. Hale rose slowly with his napkin still in his
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON 192
CHAPTER 192THALIAFor a second, nobody understood what I had said.Then Bailey’s smile twitched, and I watched her understand it.“I don’t know what you mean.”“Oh, I think you do.” I turned to the seated tables and let my voice carry. “Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Langford has asked some questions about me tonight. I’d like to answer a few of hers. First, where has she been?”“It’s none of your business.”“You came here to talk about character, so let’s talk about yours.” My smile felt strange on my face, calm and a little sharp. “You just told this room you finished a master’s degree abroad, with distinction, in half the usual time. That’s impressive. You’ve been gone a few weeks, and before you left, you needed one thing to graduate here. A signature from Dr. Evelyn Carter.”The silver shawl stirred at a table near the front. Dr. Carter turned in her chair with her glass in hand and an expression of pure, patient interest.“She refused to sign,” I said. “So you went to her house wit
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON 191
CHAPTER 191THALIAI had not thought about Bailey in weeks. The last time I saw her was at the hospital, after Brandon saved me, when she stood by the window of his room and glared at me as if I had done it to him myself. I never wondered where she was, so when the ballroom doors flew open, it took me a second to place the red dress.She stood there, waiting to be looked at. She waited a long moment. A few guests glanced up, then politely turned back to their wine. Her smile slipped by a fraction, and I watched her realize that the room was not going to make this easy for her.She crossed the floor with her chin lifted and dropped into an empty chair at a table near the press section, as though she had meant to all along. She crossed her legs, sipped her champagne, and stared at the stage.I walked up the steps, and the lights went hot on my face. Three hundred and forty people settled into silence, and I put my hands on either side of the microphone.“Good evening. Thank you all for
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON 190
CHAPTER 190THALIAThe ballroom at the Grand Marlowe had been transformed.White roses climbed the pillars in thick, fragrant ropes, and hundreds of tiny lights hung from the ceiling like a night sky. Round tables glowed with candles, and a banner above the stage read Elara Gives Back: Healing for Children. At the far end, a string quartet was tuning, and the sound drifted through the room like a held breath.I stood just inside the doors in a deep green gown and could not make my feet move."You're doing the thing," Adrian said beside me."What thing?""The thing where you stand perfectly still so no one notices you're terrified." He wore a dark suit, with his cane tucked casually under one arm like an accessory, and he was smiling. "It doesn't work. You look like a statue of someone about to bolt.""I'm not terrified.""Thalia.""I'm a little terrified." I pressed a hand to my stomach. "Two weeks ago this was an idea. Now there are three hundred and forty people in this room, and ha
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON FIFTY
THALIAI stood just behind the stage entrance, my hands resting lightly against each other as I adjusted my grip, then released it again when I realized I was doing too much.“You’re good,” the event coordinator said quietly as she passed me. “It’s almost your turn.”I nodded once without respondin
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON SIX
THALIAAcross the city, my new apartment still smelled faintly of fresh paint.Freedom had a strange scent.I stood in the middle of the living room, staring at the half-opened boxes scattered everywhere. The place wasn’t nearly as large as the Langford estate, but it felt lighter somehow. The sile
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON FIVE
BRANDONThe first thing I felt was anger.It sat heavy in my chest all afternoon, refusing to fade.I stood in my office at Langford Pharmaceuticals, staring through the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the city. Traffic crawled below like ants. People moved through their ordinary lives, wh
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON FOUR
THALIAI had just placed the cardboard box in the passenger seat and was about to start the engine when someone called my name.“Thalia!”The voice came from behind me.I froze for a second before turning around.Brandon was walking out of the company building, his expression already dark with ange
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