All Chapters of Until Paperwork Do Us Part : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Elena sat motionless behind the wheel of her parked car for a long while.The city lights glimmered through the windshield, casting fragmented reflections against the glass, but she barely registered them. Her fingers, still curled around the steering wheel, had gone numb from clutching it too long. A shallow breath moved through her lips, then another. Finally, she blinked, her lashes slow and heavy, and opened the door with a quiet click.The cool air met her skin like a whisper, but she didn’t shiver.She got out slowly, without urgency, her heels clicking softly against the pavement as she walked toward the building’s entrance. Her posture was upright—controlled, poised as always—but there was no strength behind it tonight. She moved like someone carrying invisible weights, like every step was a quiet act of resistance against collapse.Inside the penthouse, the silence welcomed her like a familiar ache.She didn’t bother turning on the overhead lights. The place was dim, lit only

Elena stood slowly from the dining table, the chair legs scraping softly against the floor as she gathered her robe around her. The breakfast she had barely touched sat cooling on the plate, and although her stomach felt steadier now than it had earlier, a lingering nausea still fluttered in the corners of her chest. “I think I’ll just head back to my room,” she murmured, not quite meeting Jack’s eyes. But before she could turn away, Jack's voice came, low but clear. “Are you going to the office today?” She paused at the question, fingers tightening briefly around the robe’s belt. Her eyes lifted to meet his across the kitchen, his face unreadable. For a moment, she considered lying, offering a half-hearted excuse about work or needing to check in with Layla or the board—but she didn’t have the energy to pretend. “No,” she replied, shaking her head faintly. “I’m not going in. I just… I don’t want to. I want to stay here today. Just rest. Clear my head.” Jack nodded once, slowly,

The first bite melted in her mouth—soft, buttery, with a hint of cinnamon and something citrusy that danced on her tongue. Elena closed her eyes as she chewed slowly, savoring every bit of the muffin like it was a balm to her weary soul. She let out a light hum of satisfaction and looked at Jack with mock offense."Okay, that’s just unfair," she said, lifting another piece toward her lips. “You’ve been hiding this talent all along?”Jack chuckled, leaning a hip against the counter as he wiped his hands on a towel. “It’s all Grandma’s recipe. Told you she was a genius.”Elena nodded, licking a crumb from her thumb. “Well, tell her she raised a secret weapon. These muffins could end wars.”They stood at the kitchen island, the tray of still-warm muffins between them. The morning had blurred into afternoon, and the light pouring through the window cast soft golden patches on the tiled floor. The mood had shifted—less about distraction now, more about discovery, comfort, connection.As th

Morning sunlight poured through the tall windows of Vale Corp’s executive wing, casting golden streaks across the sleek marble floors and polished glass partitions. The air smelled faintly of fresh coffee and citrus-scented polish—calm on the surface, but beneath it all, the usual hum of high-stakes urgency pulsed through every corridor.Inside the executive boardroom, Elena sat at the long obsidian table, the glow from her tablet reflecting in her eyes as she skimmed the final pages of a new proposal. Across from her, Jack Roman leaned back in his chair, sleeves rolled to his elbows, tapping a pen against the table in thoughtful rhythm. The room was quiet, the kind of silence shared only between two people who no longer needed to fill the space with unnecessary words.“This clause here,” Jack said, pointing at the screen, “it’s solid, but it leaves a backdoor for the Sinclair Group to push an audit midway through execution. They’ll claim due diligence, but they’re angling for leverag

The sky had slipped into a dark slate by the time Elena and Jack exited the hospital. A hush had fallen over the city, the kind that only came with the slow bleeding of twilight into night. Streetlights blinked on with a soft hum, casting long shadows across the sidewalk as they made their way to the car. Neither of them spoke. The silence wasn’t heavy—it wasn’t cold either—it was just... full. Full of thoughts that neither one knew how to shape into sentences. Jack opened the passenger door for her without a word, and Elena slid in, exhaling slowly as she leaned her head back against the seat. The scent of leather and the subtle trace of his cologne still lingered from earlier. It grounded her more than she expected. The drive back was quiet. Jack kept one hand on the wheel, the other resting on his thigh, fingers occasionally drumming against his jeans. He didn’t look at her, but his presence filled the car, thick with unspoken things—his worry about his father, the way his hand