Lahat ng Kabanata ng Seducing my Ex-husband back: Kabanata 111 - Kabanata 120

POSSESSION~ALEXANDER'S POV~I stood in the center of the study, staring at the photos scattered across my desk. David touching her wrist. David leaning close. David smiling at her on the sidewalk like he had just heard a secret.Each image felt like a physical blow to my chest, worse than the shrapnel.The door clicked open. I didn't turn around. I heard the soft rustle of fabric, the scent of her perfume….jasmine and rain…filling the room. But beneath it, faint and cloying, was the smell of another man's cologne."You're still in here," Claire said quietly."I'm working," I lied, sweeping the photos into a drawer and slamming it shut."You're brooding," she corrected. She walked further into the room, wrapped in a silk robe, her hair damp from the shower I had ordered her to take. "And you're angry.""I have a right to be angry." I finally turned to face her. "You had lunch with the enemy.""He's not the enemy, Alexander. He's your brother.""Step-brother," I snarled. "And in busine

BLOOD AND WATER~ANNETTE'S POV~The night was supposed to be sacred.It was one of those rare, suspended moments where the world stopped spinning on its axis of revenge and corporate warfare. Just me and Darla, tangled together under a heavy duvet in the guest room of the Villa, a bowl of half-eaten popcorn balanced precariously between us. The TV blinked with the blue light of some rom-com we'd both memorized years ago, but I wasn't watching the screen. I was watching her.Darla's head rested on my chest, her dark hair splayed across my collarbone like ink. Her breathing was steady, rhythmic, a sound that usually anchored me when my mind started to drift into dark places. For a few hours, the chaos of the Blackwood and Sterling wars felt miles away.No schemes. No billionaires. No noise. Just peace.That was until my phone buzzed against the nightstand. The vibration sounded like a chainsaw in the quiet room. I ignored it at first. It was late. The world could wait. But the second

A STRANGER'S EYES~MONICA'S POV~I expected her to crush.That was the script. That was how this always went. I applied pressure, and Annette folded like cheap origami. I had just handed her photos of her girlfriend being stalked by a dangerous man. I had just threatened to ruin her life.By all laws of nature, she should have been crying. She should have been begging me to call Owen off.But she wasn't.Annette stood up from the table. She didn't look at the photos of Darla anymore. She looked at me. And for the first time in my life, I didn't recognize the woman standing across from me.The soft, pliable sister I had bullied for twenty years was gone. In her place was something cold. Something hard."You think you've won," Annette said. Her voice wasn't loud. It didn't tremble. It was flat, like the line on a heart monitor after the patient has died."I have won," I said, sipping my mimosa to hide the sudden, puzzling tremor in my hand. "You have your orders, Annette. Go back to the

A FAMILY REUNION~CLAIRE'S POV~"Are you sure about this?" Alexander asked, adjusting his cufflinks in the mirror. He looked devastatingly handsome in his tuxedo, though I noticed he moved stiffly, guarding his stitched side."I'm sure," I said, stepping up behind him to straighten his tie. "The Hayes Foundation Gala is the biggest event of the season. If we want to set a trap for Monica, we do it under the brightest lights we can find.""It's not Monica I'm worried about," Alexander muttered, turning to face me. His green eyes darkened. "David RSVP'd. He bought a platinum table.""Of course he did," I said, smoothing the lapel of his jacket. "He wants to intimidate you.""And Richard?""Security has orders to ban him," I said. "But he's desperate. He'll find a way in. He always crashes where he isn't wanted."I looked up at him. "That's the plan, Alexander. All three Blackwood brothers in one room. The King, the Usurper, and the Fool. And while you three are measuring egos, Annette a

THE OTHER MAN~ANNETTE'S POV~The address Monica sent me wasn't a hotel. It wasn't a café. It was a pre-war apartment building in Hell's Kitchen. The kind of place that had character, sure, but definitely didn't have a doorman or a concierge service.It wasn't the kind of place Monica Blackwood usually set foot in, let alone visited voluntarily.I checked the text again. Apartment 4B. Don't knock loud.I took a deep breath, gripping my purse strap tight enough to hurt, and walked up the three flights of stairs. The hallway smelled like old cooking oil and floor wax.I knocked.The door opened almost immediately, but not all the way. Monica stood there, blocking the view inside.My eyebrows shot up.She wasn't wearing her usual tailored suit or a designer dress. She was wearing a silk robe…black, sheer at the edges…that was tied loosely around her waist. Her hair was down, slightly messy. She looked... comfortable."You came," she said, stepping back to let me in.I stepped into the ap