Divorce

 Cassian’s POV

I sat behind the table in my top-floor office, staring down at the financial reports spread across the surface while my cell phone kept buzzing repeatedly against the edge of my laptop. Liora had been calling me every thirty minutes since early morning, demanding that I set aside time today to plan a lavish engagement party, but every single time her name flashed across the screen, I simply ignored the call and let it go straight to voicemail.

"Mr. Virelli, your ten o'clock meeting with the regional managers was rescheduled for this afternoon," my secretary said, stepping into the room and setting a fresh cup of coffee on the corner of the table. "Is there anything else you need before I head down to the main lobby to grab the daily mail?"

"No, that will be all for now," I answered, keeping my eyes fixed on the numbers in front of me while taking a quick sip of the hot liquid, "just make sure you block out my schedule for the rest of the morning because I do not want any unexpected visitors coming up to this floor."

"Of course, sir," she replied, stepping back toward the double doors and closing them quietly behind her as she left the room.

I leaned back in my chair, rubbed my tired eyes with my hands, and let out a long breath, thinking about how Liora had been pushing me for months to officially announce our upcoming wedding to the public, even though I had repeatedly told her that I was too busy with company operations to worry about parties.

Before I could pick up my pen to return to work, the office doors swung wide open without any warning, and the sound of confident heels clicking against the floor made me snap my head up in annoyance, fully expecting to see Liora standing there ready to complain about her unanswered calls.

My voice froze in my throat, and my pen slipped right out of my fingers to the papers below, because the woman stepping into my office was not Liora at all.

Elaris walked directly toward my table, wearing a crisp, expensive suit that fit her perfectly, carrying herself with an effortless air of power and complete confidence that made her look like an entirely different person from the quiet, timid girl who had left my mansion six years ago.

"What... what are you doing here?" I managed to ask, standing up from my chair slowly while staring at her in utter disbelief, unable to pull my eyes away from her face.

"Good morning, Cassian," Elaris said, her voice smooth, steady, and completely devoid of any emotion as she stopped right in front of my table, "I see you are still working out of the exact same office after all these years."

"Elaris, where have you been for the past six years?" I demanded, taking a step around the side of the table toward her while my heart pounded against my ribs, "You vanished into thin air overnight, you never called anyone in my family, and nobody could track down a single trace of you anywhere in the country."

"Where I have been for six years is entirely none of your concern," she replied calmly, opening her small bag, pulling out a file folder, and setting it down on top of my financial reports, "I am not here to catch up on the past, nor am I interested in small talk with you."

"Then why did you walk into my building like this without making an appointment?" I asked, looking down at the folder on the table before raising my eyes back to her face, "You can't just show up after six years and act like a complete stranger."

"I came here because you left a very important piece of business unfinished," Elaris explained, tapping her slim finger against the plastic cover of the folder, "six years ago, you handed me signed divorce papers, but you failed to complete the final court registration with the city registry office, which means our marriage is technically still recorded in the official system."

"You came back just to discuss the divorce papers?" I asked, feeling an unexpected wave of bitterness rise up in my chest as I looked at her calm expression.

"I came back to make you sign the final confirmation registry right now," she stated firmly, pulling a black pen from her pocket and placing it directly beside the folder, "I have already signed my part of the registry forms, so all I need from you is your final signature on the second page so my lawyer can submit everything to the city court before noon today."

"And if I refuse to sign it right now?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest while narrowing my eyes at her, "You vanished for six full years without saying a word, and now you expect me to drop everything and sign whatever you place on my table within two minutes of walking in?"

"Refusing to sign will not change anything, Cassian," Elaris said, looking me straight in the eyes without flinching for a single second, "our marriage ended the exact moment I walked out of your house six years ago, and I am simply here to clean up your old legal mistake so I can move forward with my life without your name attached to mine."

"Is there someone else?" I blurted out before I could stop myself, stepping closer to her until only a few inches separated us across the edge of the table, "Is that why you suddenly care so much about finishing this paperwork today?"

"My personal life does not belong to you anymore, Cassian," Elaris answered coolly, stepping back slightly to maintain her distance while pointing down at the papers, "sign the document so we can both move on with our lives, because I have no intention of wasting another minute standing in this room with you."