Lahat ng Kabanata ng After Divorce, I became the CEO of my Ex-Husband's Company : Kabanata 221 - Kabanata 230

Sophia’s POVThe sky was bleeding orange when we reached the church ruins.Alex slowed the Jeep, his knuckles white on the wheel, eyes scanning the shattered bell tower ahead. My heart beat like war drums inside my chest, but I forced my breathing steady. This place looked untouched by time—crumbled stones, ivy-covered walls, a silence too perfect for safety.I stepped out first.The wind shifted, carrying the faint scent of oil and ash.Alex moved beside me, his hand brushing my lower back. “Stay close.”Lena slipped ahead, flashlight tight in her grip. She hadn’t said a word since the cabin, and the way she moved now—quick, surgical—reminded me of myself when I still believed revenge could fix everything.We passed through the arched doorway, stepping into the hollow shell of what once was holy.Then I saw him.A tall man stood by the altar, silhouetted by flickering lanterns. Graying at the temples, jaw sharp, posture military even in stillness.Damian’s brother.His name was Elija

Sophia’s POVThe mirror corridor was never meant to be opened again.The glass walls shimmered with fractured reflections—me, distorted and multiplied, a hundred versions of myself staring back, each more hollow than the last.“Lena!” I called, voice bouncing off the walls, warping into echoes.Nothing.I moved quickly, weapon raised, every nerve pulled tight like a wire about to snap. Behind me, gunfire still echoed faintly—Alex holding the rear with everything he had. I trusted him. But I didn’t trust this place.Not anymore.The corridor was part of Project Echo’s early behavioral mapping program. It used sound, light, and psychological manipulation to test a subject’s cognitive dissonance. If Lena had activated it—if Nyx had—Then I was walking into a trap.I passed the old biometric lockpad. It blinked green. She’d already gone through.No hesitation.No second thoughts.That wasn’t like her.My boots slid slightly on the polished floor. Blood smeared the surface—small footprints

Alex’s POVThe silence that followed was the kind that shredded your insides.Sophia stood frozen, staring at the comm unit like it might speak again and tell her it was all a mistake. That the girls were just out picking wildflowers, playing hide-and-seek near the ruins.But I knew better.I saw the way her jaw clenched, the flicker in her eyes—the same one I’d seen in the field, right before she did something reckless.“Say that again,” I barked, grabbing the radio.Damian’s brother—Noel—was breathing hard on the other end. “They’re gone. Both of them. There was no break-in. No blood. No flare. Just... gone.”Sophia turned toward Nyx—Lena’s body—and I stepped in front of her. I didn’t need her pulling a trigger she couldn’t take back.“We need her,” I said.“For how long?” she snapped. “Until she finishes turning my daughter into a weapon?”“She’s not Nyx,” I said, “She’s Lena. And she’s fighting.”Lena’s body lay still now, her breathing shallow but steady. Whatever voice had hijac

Sophia’s POVLina’s eyes glowed red like something pulled straight out of my nightmares.Her small hand held the gun steady, aimed not at Damian… but at me.“Lina,” I said, my voice breaking before I could stop it. “It’s Mom. Baby, it’s me.”She didn’t blink.Didn’t hesitate.“I’m not your baby,” she whispered.Her voice wasn’t her own—it was layered, distorted, something else riding beneath the surface.Alex moved fast, stepping in front of me.“Lina, put the gun down,” he said, calm, steady.His hand hovered near his own weapon, but I could see the war in his eyes. He couldn’t shoot her. Neither could I.Nathan smiled from the shadows. “Told you… she’s not yours.”“You lied to me!” I snapped, my gaze cutting to him like a blade. “You said she was safe.”“She is,” he said simply. “Just not from you.”Lina took a step closer.Her fingers flexed on the trigger like she didn’t fully understand how fragile this moment was.“Project Nyx wasn’t about weapons or data,” Damian said, voice si

Sophia’s POVThe sky burned with the first fragile light of dawn.Alex hadn’t stopped driving. His knuckles were white against the steering wheel, his jaw locked in the kind of silence that felt louder than a scream.Lina slept fitfully in my arms. I could feel every shiver that wracked her small frame.In the rearview mirror, Damian sat bound and bloodied, his eyes fixed on the horizon with a look I couldn’t quite read. Not fear. Not regret.Something closer to satisfaction.“You should have killed me,” he said finally, voice raw from pain.Alex didn’t look at him. “We will. Just not today.”I met Damian’s gaze in the cracked mirror. “Why? Why her? Why Lina?”He smiled. “Because I never could break you, Sophia. But I could break her.”Something sharp twisted in my chest.Lina stirred, murmured something too soft to catch. I pressed my hand to her hair, grounding myself in the warmth of her, the proof that she was still here, still breathing.“You failed,” I said. “You lost.”“Did I?”