All Chapters of Ex Husband, Prepare To Burn : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Ian's POV The drive home was quiet. My driver said nothing. The city lights bled past the window in slow streaks of amber and white. I sat with one arm against the door, two fingers pressed to my mouth, staring at nothing in particular. You remind me of someone. I'd said that out loud. And to a woman I'd met four hours ago. My jaw tightened. I dropped my hand and looked away from the window. The house was lit when we pulled in. Camila's doing. She hated coming home to darkness. The front door opened before I reached it — Renata stepped aside without a word. I handed her my jacket and loosened my collar as I walked through the entrance hall. The heels on the marble told me where Camila was before I saw her. She appeared at the top of the staircase in a silk robe, one hand resting on the banister, the other wrapped around a wine glass. Her eyes tracked me from above. "You're late." "The dinner ran over." She descended slowly. "I called twice." "I know." She re

Liam's POVThe fabric samples had been spread across the worktable since seven.By eleven I'd moved three of them and left the rest exactly where they were.Marco, my head designer, stood on the other side of the table waiting for me to say something useful. I could feel him waiting. He had that particular stillness of a man who'd learned not to rush me — arms folded, one finger tapping once against his sleeve before stopping himself."The ivory," I said."Which ivory?""The one on the left."He picked it up and held it toward the light. "It photographs cold.""Then we shoot it warm."He set it down without arguing. That was the thing about Marco — he pushed exactly once and then let it go. I'd hired him for that specifically."The Milano shipment clears customs Friday," he said, moving on. "And Petra from Vale Group called again about the collaboration proposal."I looked up."What did you tell her?""That you'd respond by the end of the week.""Tell her Wednesday."He made a note an

Ian's POV "The gap is four months." Greyson's voice was the same as it always was, flat, unhurried and stripped of everything except information. I'd paid enough over the years to know that tone wasn't indifference. It was precision. "What kind of gap?" I asked. "The kind somebody made." A pause, followed by the sound of paper. "Elara Rhodes didn't exist before March of the year SM Group was registered. No university records, no tax history, no prior employment, no digital footprint. She arrives on paper exactly three months before the company files. Everything before that — nothing." I didn't respond. "The seed investment came from a David Sullivan. Australian Billionaire. He comes from old money and is legitimate. With a clean record too. He's been her primary backer since the beginning and from what I can tell the relationship predates the company by at least a year." Another pause. "Whoever built her background knew what they were doing. But they were building forward, no

Ian's POV"Can I get you anything else, sir?""No."He left.I turned back to the window.My phone screen lit up when I checked it. 9:01.I set it face down on the table.The entrance across the street had a doorman and two people leaving. A courier dropping something at the desk inside.9:03.A black SUV rolled to a stop at the kerb.I sat forward slightly.The door opened and Camila stepped out. Slate grey coat, folder under one arm, already moving before the driver had fully stopped. She said something to the two people behind her and they stayed by the car.She went in alone.I leaned back.The coffee in front of me had stopped steaming at some point. I don't remember when.My concern was with Camila. I'd asked about her Thursday morning and she'd said she had something for the brand then kept it vague the way she kept things vague when she didn't want questions. I hadn't pushed. I almost never pushed with Camila because pushing with Camila meant a conversation I didn't have the

Camila's POVThe debrief with Petra took eleven minutes.I know because I watched the clock above her desk the entire time she spoke. Supplier contacts, partnership renewals, the Milano collaboration confirmation, a press request from a fashion journal that wanted a feature on the Vale Group rebrand. Petra went through each item with the efficiency I paid her for and I nodded at the right moments and said the right things and gave her what she needed to continue operating.When she left I sat behind my desk and looked at the wall.The meeting had been two hours ago.I was still sitting with it.That was the problem. I didn't sit with things. I processed, I moved, I decided. Sitting with something was what other people did — people who hadn't learned early enough that the moment you stopped moving was the moment everything caught up with you.But Elara Rhodes had looked at me across that boardroom table with those eyes and I was still sitting with it two hours later like a woman who'd