Se connecterChapter 32"Ladies, if you would be so kind as to follow the floor staff," Molly announced, her voice honey-coated with venom. "The husbands have a very special date with the Truth Machine. We wouldn't want your lovely faces distracting them from their... honest reflections."I didn't need to be told twice. I wanted to be as far away from George and the lingering scent of his supposed gastric distress as possible. I stood up, smoothing my silk robe with the practiced grace of a queen heading to her executioner."Good luck, honey," I whispered, leaning down to George's ear so only he could hear. "Try not to let the lie detector short-circuit when you talk about our 'active' sex life. It might mistake your diaper for a grounding wire."George’s jaw muscle jumped. "I'm going to kill you, Katherine. I’m going to strip you of every cent.""You have to win the game first, George. And right now? You’re losing the room."I turned and followed the line of wives, but as we reached the corridor
Chapter 31The silence in the grand hall wasn’t just quiet; it was heavy, like the air right before a building collapses. Every pair of eyes, the social climbers, the desperate bankrupts, and the predatory influencers shifted from the neon stage to us.George’s smug, wolfish grin didn’t just fade. It evaporated. “What did you just say?” George hissed, his voice dropping an octave, his hand tightening on the black remote in his pocket.I didn't flinch. I let my lower lip tremble just enough to look like a concerned, long-suffering wife. I reached out, my fingers hovering near his waist, and then I spoke loud enough to reach the back row of the warehouse.“Oh, honey! I told you the medication would have side effects! Don’t tell me the diarrhea has gotten that serious. You mean you just defecated right now? Right here?”The man in the sequined blazer choked on his own spit. A woman in the front row gasped, covering her mouth with a manicured hand. George went from pale to a shade of cri
Chapter 30The air in the hallway felt like a vacuum, sucking the oxygen out of my lungs as George led me toward the stairs. Killian was still standing in the center of the Master Suite, a frozen statue of redundant fury. I turned back once, catching the way the moonlight hit his clenched jaw, but the door slammed shut, echoing like a gunshot.George didn’t just walk; he strutted. The weight of the black remote in his hand seemed to give him a physical height he’d lacked for years."Stop smiling, George," I hissed, my hand white-knuckled around the strap of my bag. "You look like a hyena who found a carcass.""A hyena?" He paused at the top of the grand staircase, throwing a smug, lingering look back at the heavy oak doors of my suite. "No, Katherine. I’m the man who just realized his lover and his wife are the same brand of filth. It’s liberating.""You’re insane," I whispered. "You think you can kidnap me?""Kidnap? No. We’re undergoing court-mandated counseling, remember?" He bega
Chapter 29The heavy scent of Killian’s expensive Scotch usually acted as a sedative for my frayed nerves, but tonight, it smelled like a predator’s breath. I stood in the center of the Master Suite, the moonlight slicing through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Kendrick Estate like a silver blade. My skin still felt the phantom hum of the boardroom, the adrenaline of the near-signature, the frustration of the Zurich delay, and the lingering, inexplicable itch I felt whenever I looked at George in that hideous neon vest.I had broken him. I had stripped him of his silk ties, his trust fund, and his dignity. So why, as I stood in my silk robe, did I feel like the one being watched?My phone vibrated on the marble vanity. A private message. No sender ID.I picked it up, expecting a late-night brief from Marcus. Instead, the screen bloomed with a thumbnail video that made the air vanish from my lungs.I hit play. The video was high-definition. Infrared. It was me. It was Killian. It
Chapter 28The silver tray felt like a lead weight in my hands as I retreated to the service scullery. My chest was tight, a frantic mix of adrenaline and the cold, hard realization that the crack I had found in Clause 14 was a ticking clock. I didn't have much time. If Katherine signed that original document after her Zurich call, the leverage I had envisioned would vanish into the Leroy vault forever.I needed to swap it. I needed to replace the final signature page with a version I’d spent all night drafting on a burner laptop in the mudroom, a version where the loophole wasn't just a mistake, but a trap door that diverted the Kendrick estate’s primary dividends into an offshore trust I’d reactivated from my father’s old records.I waited. I watched the heavy oak doors like a scavenger watching a dying lion.When the boardroom finally emptied for a ten-minute recess, I moved. I didn't carry a tray this time; I carried a bucket of industrial floor cleaner and a rag. I looked like e
Chapter 27The tray was heavier than it looked. Not because of the coffee. But because of what it meant.George adjusted his grip, fingers steady, expression blank, the perfect servant mask. The kind that said I exist only to be ignored.The kind they had trained him to become.The Leroy main boardroom doors loomed ahead, tall and silent like they were guarding something sacred. Or dangerous.Inside, voices drifted out.Sharp. Arrogant. Careless.He didn’t knock.Servants didn’t knock.He pushed the door open.The room smelled like money and ego.Polished oak table stretching like a runway. Crystal glasses catching light like diamonds. A skyline view that whispered power to anyone who looked long enough.And at the center of it all—Katherine.She didn’t look at him.Of course she didn’t.She was seated at the head of the table, dressed in a cream suit that probably cost more than his entire existence right now. Her posture was razor-sharp, chin slightly raised, eyes locked on the doc
Chapter 24: The silence that followed Katherine’s announcement wasn't empty; it was heavy, pressurized by the sudden, violent inversion of the Kendrick family tree. Beatrice sat frozen, the paper in her hand rattling like a dry leaf. George felt as though the very floorboards he stood upon, board
Chapter 23The Kendrick family dining room, a reminder of the legacy that George's father left which his son failed to continue, was a mausoleum of mahogany and bitter expectations. Crystal chandeliers overhead cast a jagged light on the silverware, which sat precisely where the family’s pedigree
Chapter 22The transition from the neon-yellow vest of a courier to the stiff, black polyester of a driver’s suit felt less like a promotion and more like a lateral move through the circles of Hell. George stood by the obsidian-black Leroy executive SUV, his gloved hands trembling as he polished a
Chapter 20George stood in the hallway like a sentry of vengeance, his chest puffed out with a sickening sense of righteousness. He had discarded the cold coffees in a nearby bin, feeling a surge of adrenaline that made him forget the aches of the Floor 42 bullpen.Finally, he thought, his heart ra







