Semua Bab Legally Bound : Bab 91 - Bab 100

The penthouse felt too quiet for a work-from-home day.Sunlight filtered through the sheer curtains, casting long pale lines across the living room floor, but the warmth of it didn’t settle into Lily’s chest the way it usually did. She sat at the dining table with her laptop open, unread emails stacked neatly on the screen, a mug of coffee cooling untouched beside her.She wasn’t working.She hadn’t been able to focus all morning.Across the room, Gillian was on the couch, laptop balanced on her knees, typing intermittently, pausing often to glance up at Lily like she was trying to read a language she already half understood.Alex had been in the study since early morning.Too early.That alone wasn’t unusual, Alex lived in work mode but today there was something about the way he’d left the bedroom that bothered Lily. No lingering kiss. No teasing comment. Just a quiet “I’ll be in the study,” spoken with a tightness that hadn’t been there before.Lily heard the study door open.Alex s

Lily had returned from work earlier than usual, a subtle urgency in her pace as she stepped into the penthouse. The familiar hum of the Chicago skyline filtered through the tall windows, but the apartment felt unusually quiet. She spotted Alex already on the couch, deep in thought, his fingers tracing absent patterns on a notebook resting on his lap. The weight of the Starlife termination and all the ensuing chaos hung over him like a storm cloud.“I wanted to be here with you,” she said softly, closing the distance between them. Her voice carried a mix of concern and need, a gentle reminder that amidst the chaos, they had each other. Alex looked up, eyes weary but softening as he took in her presence. He set the notebook aside and opened his arms. She sank into him, and they cuddled together, seated on the plush couch.Alex held her tightly, but his mind was elsewhere. Every detail, every possibility, every headline ran through his thoughts, each one a puzzle piece that didn’t quite

Lily didn’t speak for a long moment after the call ended.The office felt too quiet, like the sound had been sucked out of it. The hum of the air conditioner, the distant tapping of keyboards somewhere down the hall, everything felt exaggerated, intrusive.Her phone was still in her hand. The screen had gone dark.Gillian hadn’t moved either.She was sitting exactly where she’d been when Lily put the call on speaker, one hand frozen halfway to the coffee cup she’d brought, her face pale in a way Lily had never seen before.Finally, Gillian broke the silence.“…Lily.”Lily swallowed. Her throat felt tight, raw, like she’d swallowed something sharp.Gillian slowly set the coffee cup down on the desk, forgotten. “I” She stopped, then tried again. “I don’t even know what to say.”“Neither do I.”Lily stood up, but the movement was abrupt, unsteady. She paced once, twice, then stopped near the window, her arms folding around herself instinctively.“He sent him,” Lily said, her voice flat n

Alex sat exactly where Lily had left him.Thirty minutes passed. Maybe more. Time didn’t move the way it was supposed to. It pooled around him, thick and suffocating, while his mind replayed the same images on a brutal loop, her empty side of the wardrobe, the note on the table, the way her handwriting slanted slightly when she was emotional.I really thought this was real…He hadn’t even noticed when his hands started shaking.Eventually, instinct or desperation pushed him to move. He reached for his phone with fingers that felt foreign and numb and opened FaceTime. He didn’t know who he needed first, only that he couldn’t sit with this alone.Wilson answered immediately. Eileen’s face appeared beside his a second later, her brows knitting together the moment she saw Alex’s expression.“Alex?” Eileen said softly. “What’s wrong?”He didn’t speak. He turned the camera and showed them the note.For a moment, neither of them said anything.Wilson’s mouth opened, then closed. “Bro… what t

Alex woke before the alarm.For a moment, disoriented by exhaustion, he reached instinctively toward the other side of the bed.Empty.The reality settled again, slow and crushing.He sat up, elbows on his knees, staring at the floor as if it might offer answers. He hadn’t slept more than an hour, just a shallow nap filled with half-dreams and fragments of Lily’s voice. The note. Her words. The look in her eyes outside the courthouse yesterday. Flat. Final.Alex dragged a hand down his face and stood. Today, he was supposed to leave Chicago.That thought alone made his chest ache.He showered mechanically, dressed in a dark suit he barely registered choosing, and packed the rest of his things into a single carry-on. Every item reminded him of her; her scarf folded carefully in a drawer he hadn’t opened, the mug she liked by the coffee machine, the faint scent of her shampoo still clinging to the pillows.By the time he stepped into the elevator with his suitcase, he felt like he was w