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All Chapters of Ex Husband, Prepare To Burn : Chapter 31 - Chapter 37

37 Chapters

Chapter 31 - The Waiting Game

Ian's POVThe lobby of SM Group's New York office was exactly what I'd expected.Understated and precise. The kind of space that didn't need to announce itself because everything in it already did, the staff who moved without hurrying and the reception desk positioned so that anyone who walked through the front door arrived at it naturally.I walked through the front door.The receptionist looked up before I reached the desk. Young, composed, the particular alertness of someone trained to read arrivals before they spoke."Good morning." Her smile was professional. "Do you have an appointment?""I don't.""Can I take your name?""Ian Vance."She typed something without looking away from me. "And who are you here to see, Mr. Vance?""Elara Rhodes."Nothing moved in her expression."Ms. Rhodes is unavailable without a prior appointment. I can check availability for a scheduled—""Tell her Ian Vance is in the lobby."A brief pause. Then she reached for her phone.I stepped back from the d

Chapter 32 - A Conversation Years Too Late

Elara's POV"Ms. Rhodes.""Leave it on the desk."Ivy set something down and withdrew without another word. I kept my eyes on the contract in front of me — a supplier renewal with three clauses that needed restructuring before I'd sign anything. I finished the paragraph, made a note in the margin then turned the page.Then I reached for whatever Ivy had left.It was a cream stock card with a clean serif font on the front.Ian Vance. Vance Industries. CEO.I turned it over and noticed four words in handwriting I recognised before I'd finished reading them.We need to talk.With a number below it.I set the card down on the desk.Oh Vance…..I picked up my pen and found my place in the contract. Read the same clause I'd already read twice and made a second note beside the first one."Ivy."She appeared in the doorway."The supplier clause on page seven," I said. "Get legal to redraft the liability section before the end of day. And move the four o'clock to tomorrow morning.""Of course.

Chapter 33 - The Silent Abduction

Elara's POV"Grant.""Ian Vance came to my building this morning."A pause. Liam didn't say anything unless it needed to be said."How far did he get?""The lobby. Ivy handled it.""But….""He left a card." I turned my pen over on the desk once. "With his personal number. Said to tell me he knows."The line was quiet for a moment. Outside my window the afternoon light had gone flat, the gold drained out of the skyline while I'd been sitting here."And?" Liam said."And nothing. He left.""Elara.""I'll see you tomorrow," I said. "Same place. Eight o'clock."There was a brief silence."Alright," he said.The call ended.I set the phone down and looked at it for a moment. Then I looked at the drawer. I pulled the contract back in front of me and picked up my pen.Ian was planning something most likely and I didn’t like it. My eyes drifted to my phone. Four - fifteen.Guess I should start packing up. Suddenly the phone began to vibrate and Sullivan’s name popped up on the screen.For a

Chapter 34 - History Won't Repeat Itself

Elara's POVUrgh. What the hell?My head throbbed like something had been taken out of it and put back incorrectly. Slowly I opened my eyes and the first thing that hit me was the smell — antiseptic and something stale underneath it that immediately felt wrong.That's weird. Wasn't I just heading to my car?The ceiling above me was unfamiliar. A single bulb overhead, buzzing faintly. I blinked at it for a moment trying to get my bearings and then the memories started coming back in pieces. The car park. Bay fourteen. The indicators blinking. Something behind me that didn't belong.Shit.I was kidnapped. Again.I sat up slowly and immediately regretted it — the room tilted hard and I gripped the edge of the cot until everything decided to stay still. My head was pounding, my mouth tasted like chemicals, and somewhere at the back of my throat the sweetness of chloroform was still sitting there reminding me exactly how I'd ended up horizontal on a cot in a room I didn't recognise.Kidnap

Chapter 35 - The Warehouse Escape

Elara's POV"Four minutes," I repeated. "That's it?""That's it. Move."Dara was already at the door, easing it open just enough to check the corridor before pulling it wide. I followed her out, my legs still not entirely convinced they belonged to me, and the cold air outside that room hit my face like something I hadn't realised I'd been missing.The corridor was narrow. Made of concrete and industrial lighting, the kind that buzzed the same way the bulb in my room had, like the whole building ran on one tired generator that resented being asked to do anything."Where are we?" I whispered."Warehouse. Queen's side." Dara didn't slow down. "Don't ask me how I know that, ask me later."Fair enough.She moved fast and quiet, hugging the wall, and I matched her pace even though every part of my body wanted to sit down somewhere and process the fact that I'd just woken up in a locked room for the second time in five years. There would be time for processing later. Right now there was a

Chapter 36 - Too Late

Camila's POVThe wine was a good one.Ian had picked it — one of the bottles from the case his business associate had sent over from Tuscany last spring, the kind that cost enough to make you pay attention to it. I opened it an hour ago and poured two glasses. Ian had taken his to his office and I'd taken mine to the sitting room and that was fine. That was how evenings worked in this house lately. Separate rooms, separate silences, the appearance of a shared life conducted from a comfortable distance.It was fine.I curled my feet beneath me on the sofa and looked at the room. Everything exactly where it should be. The flowers Petra had arranged Tuesday were still fresh on the side table. The cushions are straight. My phone lit up on the cushion beside me.The contact.I picked it up. "Tell me she's settled.""She's gone."For a moment, everything froze. I set the wine glass down on the table beside me carefully. "Say that again.""She's gone. The door was opened from the inside

Chapter 37 - The Wedding She Didn't See Coming

Elara's POVThe ceiling was different.It was lower than the villa with a crack running from the light fixture toward the far corner that someone had half-heartedly filled in at some point and given up on.Dara's spare room.Right.I lay there for a moment and took stock. Head clear, the grogginess completely gone, a stiffness in my shoulders from a mattress that had been doing its best for several years too many. Nothing broken. Nothing that wouldn't sort itself out with coffee and movement.I reached for the burner on the nightstand and called Sydney.Noah answered on the third ring with the particular texture of someone who was technically awake but had submitted to it under protest."It's early," he said."It's eight-fifteen.""That's early.""Noah."He made a sound that communicated his position on the matter without requiring actual words. Then shuffling, and Claire's voice in the background — is that Mama, give me, Noah give me the phone — and then Claire was on."Mama.""Hey b

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