All Chapters of Tastes Like Damn Chocolate : Chapter 141 - Chapter 150

Chapter 141 The penthouse felt oppressively silent when Nikolai returned. He'd driven around for an hour after leaving the motel, trying to sort through everything — Tiana in the hospital, his complete breakdown the night before, the revelation about Indy's lies, the confrontation he was setting up in two days. He needed something to quiet the noise in his head. The whiskey was in the kitchen cabinet. He opened it anyway, pouring three fingers into a crystal tumbler and downing it in two swallows. The burn felt good. Real. Something physical to focus on instead of the chaos in his mind. He poured another glass and carried it to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city. Velmore spread out below him — lights twinkling in the growing dusk, people living their ordinary lives, unaware that in this glass tower someone's entire world was crumbling. Tiana was in the hospital. He should be there. Should be sitting by her bed, apologizing, making sure she had everything she need

Chapter 143 Tiana's discharge paperwork was taking forever. She sat in bed, already dressed in the comfortable clothes Sandy had brought from the house, her left leg elevated in its new cast, while Ryan helped sort through the various papers and Sandy paced by the window. "This is ridiculous," Sandy muttered. "We've been waiting for an hour. How hard is it to print discharge papers?" "Hospital speed," Ryan said with the patient smile of someone who'd dealt with medical bureaucracy before. "Everything takes three times longer than it should." Tiana was about to agree when Sandy grabbed the TV remote from the rolling table and flipped on the television, more for distraction than any real interest in what was on. The screen flickered to life mid-broadcast, some entertainment news show covering New York Fashion Week. The hosts were breathlessly discussing a show that had just concluded, showing B-roll footage of models and designers and celebrities. "And the moment everyone's talki

Chapter 145They talked for another forty minutes, covering timelines and procedures and what Tiana could expect in the coming weeks. Margaret was thorough but kind, explaining complex legal concepts in plain language and never making Tiana feel stupid for asking questions.Finally, Margaret stood and packed away her portfolio. "I'll have the initial documents ready for your review by tomorrow. Once you approve them, we'll file with the court and serve Nikolai with the petition. Do you have a preference for how service occurs?""Whatever's standard," Tiana said. "I don't need it to be dramatic. Just... done.""Understood." Margaret shook Tiana's hand again, then Ryan's. "Ryan, thank you for the referral. Mrs. Selma, you're in good hands. I'll be in touch soon."Ryan walked her to the door. When he returned, Tiana was staring at her phone, which had lit up with multiple notifications."Nikolai?" Ryan asked."Seven missed calls in the last two hours," Tiana said, her voice flat. "And tw

Chapter 147 The words swam before his eyes. He flipped through the pages containing legal jargon and clauses and demands, all typed in crisp, impersonal font. Petitioner: Tiana Selma. Respondent: Nikolai Toriaga. "No," Nikolai breathed. The papers slipped from his numb fingers, scattering across his desk. "Tiana can't do this. She can't…we need to talk first, we need to…" He looked up at Sandy desperately, searching for any sign of sympathy or understanding. She looked back at him with an expression he'd never seen on his sister's face before. "You deserve this," she said quietly. "Sandy, please…" "She's done, Nik. She's done waiting for you to decide she matters. She's done being humiliated and ignored and treated like an inconvenience in your life. She's done with all of it." Nikolai's throat closed. He stared at the divorce papers scattered across his desk, at the formal legal language that was dismantling his family, and felt panic rising in his chest, different from the

CHAPTER 149 Nikolai sat in the Range Rover outside Tiana's new house, hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles had gone white. His breathing was ragged, uneven, the echo of Tiana's words still ringing in his ears: I don't care about your drama... All I care about is that you weren't there when I needed you. She was right. About all of it. And he'd still managed to make it worse by showing up unannounced, demanding she listen, acting like his explanations could somehow undo months or years of failure. He released the steering wheel and opened the glove compartment with trembling fingers. The small glass vial sat Sandy handed to him at the pier nestled among insurance papers and parking receipts, innocuous and deadly in equal measure. Nikolai pocketed the vial, started the engine, and pulled away from the Tudor house that represented everything he'd lost. He drove aimlessly for twenty minutes, circling through Velmore's northern suburbs, trying to organize his tho