Semua Bab After The Divorce: He Wanted Me Back: Bab 61 - Bab 70

Isabella The morning arrived without ceremony.No dread. No racing heart. Just clarity.I woke before my alarm, the city still half-asleep beyond the windows. For a moment, I lay there, staring at the ceiling, grounding myself in the quiet. This wasn’t the kind of day that allowed emotion to lead. It demanded precision.I moved through my routine deliberately.Shower. Skincare. Hair.Each step felt like armor being put on piece by piece.I chose my outfit carefully.Not for beauty—for impact.The suit was tailored to perfection: deep charcoal, sharp lines, structured shoulders. Powerful without being loud. Underneath, a silk blouse in muted ivory, buttoned high enough to be professional, soft enough to disarm. My heels were black, pointed, not too high—designed for dominance, not display.No jewelry except a single watch on my wrist. Clean. Expensive. Quietly threatening.I studied myself in the mirror when I was done.This woman did not look like someone who could be dismissed.She

Isabella We left the boardroom with deliberate calm. Elias walked beside me, steady and unreadable, while I let my heels click against the polished floor, each step a statement. The Thornes lingered at the table, still reeling from the fact that I had not only returned—but returned on my terms.The lobby was bright, bustling with late-morning traffic. People passed by, polite smiles flashing briefly at Lucas, Emily, and Gabriel, but the attention was unmistakable. Even here, in the middle of strangers, the tension between us was magnetic.I felt it, but I ignored it. My eyes scanned the marble floors, the sleek modern architecture, everything perfectly in place. Composed. Professional. Unshakable.Elias fell slightly behind me, letting me lead. We reached the revolving doors when movement caught my eye: Gabriel.He was walking faster than necessary, purposeful. His tie slightly loosened, sleeves rolled up—he looked… human. Vulnerable, almost.“Isabella,” he called as he reached us.I

Isabella The car moved quietly through the city streets. Elias drove with his usual calm precision, the hum of the engine beneath us almost meditative. I didn’t speak at first, staring out the tinted window at the familiar skyline, the city that had once felt like home—and now only felt like another stage for what I needed to do.“You want me to take you straight home?” Elias asked after a long silence, eyes on the road.I shook my head slightly. “Not home yet. I… I want to see the old place first.”He didn’t comment immediately, just adjusted the rearview mirror and nodded. “Your old house. The one you left when… everything happened.”“Yes,” I said quietly. My fingers tapped lightly against my leg. “I want to see it. I want to know it’s still mine. For me. Even if… even if it’s just for a moment.”Elias glanced at me, and there was that familiar sharpness in his gaze—sharp, protective, assessing. “You sure you’re ready for that?”I let out a short, almost bitter laugh. “Ready? No. B

Isabella The door closed behind me with a muted click.I didn’t rush down the hallway. I didn’t look back. Whatever remained in that room—memories, ghosts, unfinished apologies—belonged to him now. I had already carried them long enough.The late afternoon air outside felt cooler against my skin as I stepped onto the porch. I inhaled once, deeply. Not to steady myself. I already was.The sound of an engine reached me before I reached the gate. Elias had repositioned the car, just as he always did—close enough to be present, far enough not to intrude.He stepped out as soon as he saw me.One look at my face and he didn’t ask the obvious questions.“Are you finished?” he asked instead.“Yes.”No tremor. No hesitation.He opened the door for me. I slid inside, smoothing my coat, crossing my legs with deliberate ease. The interior smelled faintly of leather and something clean—orderly. Grounded.Elias got in and started the engine.We drove for a full minute before he spoke.“He was ther

Isabella The office hummed quietly, a low, persistent rhythm that matched the city beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows. Sunlight spilled across the dark wood of my desk, catching the edges of folders stacked with careful precision. Each sheet, each blueprint, each report was a tool—another piece of the infrastructure empire Elias and I had built, another advantage I could wield.Elias had stepped back after the Emily incident, letting me take the lead without comment. He was there, always, but invisible unless needed. I preferred it that way. Focus mattered more than company, more than theatrics.I leaned back slightly in my chair, opening the first folder labeled Thorne Enterprises – Strategic Overview. The smell of fresh ink and polished paper was almost comforting, a quiet reassurance that at least some things in the world could be organized, controlled, and understood.The pages were meticulous: project timelines, regulatory approvals, financial reports, partnership agreements, i