Semua Bab STEP ASIDE EX-HUSBAND: THE RISE OF LIANA: Bab 31 - Bab 40

Serena's PovI swirled slowly, the air had swelled and I drowned in it. The rumble of his voice pulled at something raw inside of me, something I'd buried too deep away and swore to never touch again.Dominic stood in front of me. Eyes reddened, shoulders sagging and betrayal emanating from all parts of him. For a moment, I remembered nothing of the lines I'd repeated a hundred times in my head. The lines from the script. The cold resolve. I remembered that this moment I was meant to celebrate my triumph. But nothing in this moment tasted like triumph.It tasted like defeat. Not his.Mine.The fury in his look wasn't the kind I'd ever seen in boardrooms or in the middle of the night debates. It wasn't even fury, not really. It was devastation—pure and unadulterated. A kind of grief I hadn't thought possible for a man like him. He looked less like a business tycoon and more like a boy who stood by and watched his house burn to the ground with everything he owned inside.I opened my mo

Liana's POV I left Serena at that café table thesame way I had left my past. The wind had picked up by the time I made it to my driveway, tugging on the hem of my coat as if it wanted me to stay. But nothing could make me do that anymore. Not fear. Not regret. And certainly not Dominic.My keys jangled as I pushed open the front door, jamming it back into the cozy warmth of home. Laughter bubbled up, a clinking, gurgling sound that wrapped around my heart like a memory.I kicked off my heels and padded down the hallway, following the sound to the den.Cam was cross-legged on the carpet, a pile of Scrabble tiles beside her like gold. Her curls bounced as she stared intently at the board, tiny pink tongue lolling out in sheer determination. My mother sat opposite her, she had her favorite robe around her abs her eyes glowed as she watched Cam sort through the tiles. The sight itself was enough to soften something inside of me. For all the storm that raged outside, this moment was left

Liana's PovI was finishing breakfast when the phone rang. Only a few people called my work number, and none would try calling before 8 a.m. unless there was an emergency so this made me a bit fidgety but on getting to the phone, the caller was nobody I would have guessed right. Dominic.His name flashed across the screen like a curse. The acid slid up the back of my throat, and I reached for it, my pulse was steady. If he was on the phone this early, then the drama had gotten to him. Good."What in the name of God do you think you're doing, Liana?" His voice was rough with rage the moment I picked. I leaned back in my chair, smoothing an imaginary crease of lint from my sleeve. "Good morning to you too, Dominic.""Don't play games with me. You put out the prenup? The company deals, the transactions… everything. Are you insane? Are you out of your goddamn mind?"I smiled with ice. "No, Dominic. For the first time in three years, I'm absolutely sane. And I didn't put up the company's

Liana PovThe minute the car pulled into the school parking area, I started unbuckling the belt. My heart pounded, my entire body tense with anxiety. I didn't let the driver look for an actual parking space. I opened the door roughly and sped down the path, heels clicking madly on the sidewalk. Mum caught up quickly behind, anxiety carved heavily on her face. The receptionist barely had time to utter a word before I sped past and stood in front of the principal's door.And there she was. Cam was seated on the bench outside the door, her backpack untidy at her feet. Her eyes were glassy, lips quivering slightly, and her hands clasping a crumpled tissue. My baby. My sweet, clever girl was lost and hurt."Cam," I breathed, going down on my knees before her. Her head popped up. The moment she saw me, something in her eyes and she flung herself into my arms."Mummy, I'm sorry! I didn't want to, I just… I was so angry!" she wailed.I wrapped my arms around her, squeezing her in the kind of

I woke up prior to daybreak. The air within the room was still, as though it hadn't moved throughout the night, and I lay there under the covers for a while, my eyes open, observing the slight angle of light creeping up the wall. Something was different about how quiet the house was, but it wasn't suffocating. It was peace. I rolled onto my back and reached to the spot above my heart, fingers curling over the hem of my nightshirt. Stanley's words echoed in that quiet corner of my mind, in that space I kept for things I hadn't processed yet. “You don't have to do anything. Just let me be here.”Let him be here? The words settled on my chest, warm and unsettling at the same time.I eventually forced myself out of bed and marched to the kitchen, still in pyjamas and socks, my hair a tangled mess I lacked the energy to bother about. There were remnants of last night in the sink—two clean cups, one wadded napkin folded neatly, and the scent of fries and milkshakes in the air like a ghost