Ch 6

"Let go of me, Julian! You’ve lost your mind!"

Maya’s shriek echoed through the living room of her luxury apartment as Julian gripped her arm hard. The evidence of embezzlement—documents handed over by Clarissa’s team that morning—lay scattered across the marble floor.

Julian did not shout, but his gaze was so dark and hollow that Maya trembled with terror.

"Twenty billion, Maya," Julian’s voice rumbled low, sharp with undeniable menace. "For two years, you exploited my guilt to bleed this company dry—funding your family’s gambling debts and lavish lifestyle."

"J-Julian, I can explain... I only did this because..."

"Enough!" he snapped, shoving her away so hard she crumpled onto the sofa. "I sacrificed my own wife that night to save you! I sacrificed our unborn child for you! And this is how you repay me?"

Julian let out a bitter, hollow laugh—one filled with utter self-loathing. How blind he had been all this time. For this manipulative woman, he had left the most precious person in his world to burn alive alone.

"The police are on their way," Julian said coldly, turning his back on her as she collapsed into hysterical sobs and desperate pleas. "Enjoy the rest of your life behind bars, Maya. I will not be saving you ever again."

Two hours later, Julian stood before the glass doors of Blackwood Capital’s main conference hall. His shirt was rumpled, his face etched with deep, crushing exhaustion. Yet within him, his resolve had hardened into something absolute.

He pushed the heavy glass doors open without hesitation.

Inside, Clarissa stood facing a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the sprawling city skyline. She turned slowly at the sound of his footsteps. No surprise touched her beautiful face at the sight of his broken state.

"Mr. Vance," Clarissa greeted calmly, setting down her porcelain coffee cup. "I have received word that the authorities have just taken Miss Maya into custody. Remarkably swift action for a man who was once so fiercely protective of her."

Julian walked toward the conference table and stopped exactly three steps before her. The man once feared as the coldest, most powerful billionaire in the city slowly sank to his knees on the polished floor.

Thud.

Julian knelt before her.

Clarissa narrowed her eyes slightly, yet her composure remained unshaken.

"I have signed the full transfer of all my shares to Blackwood Capital," Julian rasped, staring at the floor near the toes of her heels. "The empire is yours now, Clara. Do whatever you wish with every asset."

He lifted his head, tears streaming unchecked down his face as he met her gaze.

"I did not come to beg for my company back. I am not here just to ask forgiveness—for I know no amount of remorse can ever bring back our child or erase the agony you endured," he sobbed openly, his chest heaving with overwhelming grief. "I only need you to know... I surrender everything to you. My life, my empire, my very soul. Destroy me however you please—if it eases even a fraction of the pain buried in your heart."

Clarissa looked down at the man who had once been her entire universe. The man she had adored, waited for, and cherished every night—now kneeling in utter surrender at her feet, a broken supplicant.

Slowly, Clarissa stepped forward, standing directly before him as he bowed his head in defeat.

"Stand up, Julian," she said softly, yet the words cut into him like a blade. "Do not humiliate yourself any further."

Shaking, Julian rose to his feet, holding onto a thread of fragile, desperate hope.

Clarissa looked him in the eyes—no pity, no hatred, not a flicker of the love that once burned so bright. Only a terrifying, absolute emptiness.

"Do you think kneeling here and handing over your business can lighten the burden of your sins?" Clarissa asked evenly. "Do you imagine I crave your suffering as payment for my own?"

She shook her head slowly.

"Revenge is a game for those who still feel something, Julian. But I... I feel nothing for you anymore. You are no longer my hero, no longer my husband—you are not even my enemy. You are simply a stranger."

Those words struck deeper and more agonizingly than a knife’s thrust. Hatred still requires care; but total indifference meant his existence had been completely erased from her soul.

Clarissa walked past him toward the exit. Just before stepping through the doorway, she paused for a moment.

"The ruin of your life starting today is not my retribution," she stated firmly, without looking back. "It is simply the consequence of the choice you made on that fateful night. Live with that regret forever, Mr. Vance."