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9. The Missing Signature
publish date:
2026-10-23 09:28:24
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The CEO Betrayed His Wife—Now He Wants Her Back 10. The Correction
Julian's signature reached Tessa before his apology did.At 8:17 a.m., the company released a public correction. It said Tessa had never approved the sale announcement. It named Julian as the executive who authorized the original wording and recorded that Vivian circulated it again after the withdrawal. The protected transfer was still suspended.For one foolish heartbeat Tessa saw the signature at the bottom and remembered anniversary cards, the careless heart he once drew beside her name. Then she remembered him telling a ballroom full of strangers that they merely disagreed about timing.This was not an apology. It was a record he could no longer avoid correcting.Naomi called as Tessa was putting on her coat. "Iris found it before I did. She taped the correction over the old announcement.""How did she take it?""She wrote a question underneath. If they lied to you, why should we believe anything they say about our jobs?"Tessa closed her eyes. The workers deserved an answer; she
The CEO Betrayed His Wife—Now He Wants Her Back 9. The Missing Signature
Julian's phone was still open to the message he'd sent Tessa, unanswered, when the recusal order arrived before breakfast.I will not step aside from our marriage.He had expected her to argue. It frightened him more than he wanted to admit that she hadn't.Priya's ruling did not strip him of his company. It barred him from private meetings and votes involving the protected sale while his personal guarantee was evaluated. The proposed loan remained unapproved. Julian read the limits twice and called his assistant."Cancel my attendance at the trust meeting.""Your father expects you there.""Send him the order. Don't tell him I volunteered."He hadn't volunteered. Tessa had made certain of that.On his way to Daniel's office, he passed the framed photograph of Tessa at their first fundraising dinner. She was wearing a pale dress and laughing at something just outside the picture. He remembered that night differently: the way she'd stolen his tie to knot around her wrist in the car, re
The CEO Betrayed His Wife—Now He Wants Her Back 8. The Price of Security
The first thing Tessa noticed on Julian's proposed guarantee was his handwriting. He had circled the maximum amount so hard the pen had cut into the page. That same hand had once held hers over the promise card at their first hotel, helping her write the rule they were never supposed to break.Now he was offering his house to keep the business alive. He still would not sign the divorce papers."Don't look at him," Naomi said beside her. "Look at what he is offering.""I'm trying."A ceiling. An expiration date. Assets that belonged to Julian alone. No protected hotels, no signature from Tessa. Daniel had prepared the figures for independent review; the money was not approved and would not guarantee a single wage.Tessa understood that in under a minute. It took her longer to stop hearing Julian's voice from the night before: Once the hotels are safe, we'll talk about us.He still thought her marriage could be postponed until it was convenient for him.Beside the guarantee lay the requ
The CEO Betrayed His Wife—Now He Wants Her Back 7. Twenty-One Days
Julian entered the cash review and found Naomi sitting beside Tessa.He stopped at the doorway. She had not answered his message about the divorce papers. The empty chair was at the far end of the table, not beside his wife. Once Tessa would have moved her papers without looking up, making space for his coffee, his coat, his hand beneath the table. She didn't even turn her head.He sat where they had left a place for him."The worker delegates have questions about the next payroll," Tessa said. She spoke to him as she might have spoken to an outside consultant. Julian had imagined she'd shout again. He hadn't imagined the sound of her no longer belonging to him.Callum, still wearing his night-shift jacket, asked when his hours would come back. "My daughter has started writing down the evenings she thinks I'll be home," he said. "I don't know what to tell her."Daniel opened a presentation. Julian could almost hear Tessa asking him to put the screen away and look at the people in fron
The CEO Betrayed His Wife—Now He Wants Her Back 6. The Only No
“No.”Tessa said it while Julian’s hand was still held open across the table. For one heartbeat it felt as if she had refused the man she once ran toward rather than a piece of paper. Her fingers shook in her lap. She looked at his initials on the draft that would blame her for withholding consent and did not reach for him.Julian looked at her as though she'd struck him. Gideon pushed his chair back. Mateo closed his eyes."For the record," Helen said carefully, "you withhold consent to this transfer?"“Yes. I will not sign away the workers’ protections, and I will not pretend I approved a decision Julian made without me.”Helen signed the suspension notice. Across the room Naomi turned her phone so the workers could read the confirmation: COVERED TRANSFER ON HOLD."Does that mean I get my Saturday shift back?" Mateo asked.Tessa looked at him. "Not automatically. I'm sorry. I stopped this sale. I didn't solve the missing money."Mateo nodded without looking relieved. He checked his
The CEO Betrayed His Wife—Now He Wants Her Back 5. The Written Warning
Julian was still wearing his wedding ring. Tessa watched it turn beneath his thumb while he sat across from her at the hearing, expecting her to protect him from the consequences of his own choice. On the table lay Nora Chen’s unanswered warning and the photograph of their first hotel. His arm encircled her waist in the picture. Six years later he would not even look at her unless somebody else was listening."Did you read my warning before the sale announcement?" Nora asked."Yes," Julian answered. "We were facing a financing deadline.""I warned that protected rights and shifts could disappear.""I know what the report said."Tessa remembered ironing that shirt for his birthday, before she stopped being invited into the decisions he made. “Then why use my name?”Julian met her eyes. "Because you would have stopped the deal before I could save the hotels."He sounded as if the answer should end the argument. Tessa almost wished he'd lied again. This was worse: he was telling her plai
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