Semua Bab The Wife He Forgot: Ashes to Empire: Bab 31 - Bab 40

POV: ISLA (Flashback)The twins were two and a half when I made my first public appearance as Dr. Isla Vale.Talking, running everywhere, getting into everything.Rowan was curious and intense. Always asking questions. Always wanting to understand how things worked.Nova was quieter. Observant. She'd watch something for hours, figuring it out, before trying it herself.They were perfect.And they looked so much like him.Rowan had Jaxon's sharp jawline. His serious expression. The way he focused on problems with single-minded determination.Nova had his eyes. Those ice-blue eyes that could be so cold. But on her, they were warm. Kind. Full of love.It was a tech conference in San Francisco. Major players. Industry leaders. Press everywhere.I'd been invited to speak on a panel about innovative system architecture. The organizers had been shocked when I accepted, Dr. Vale never did public appearances.But it was time. Time to step out of the shadows. Time to be seen.I stood backstage

POV: ISLASunday night. The night before everything changed.I lay in my hotel bed staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep.Tomorrow, my carefully constructed plan would either work perfectly or fall apart completely.I rolled over. Checked the clock. 2:17 AM.I'd been lying here for four hours.Memories assaulted me in the darkness.Our wedding night. Me in that dress I'd bought with my own savings, hoping to feel beautiful. Hoping he'd look at me with something other than cold obligation.Him barely touching me. Using my body like a transaction. Then telling me not to expect romance.I could still hear his voice. "This is a marriage of convenience. Don't expect romance."I'd thought I could change his mind. Thought if I just tried hard enough, loved him enough, he'd eventually love me back.I'd been so stupid.More memories. Darker ones.The miscarriage. Lying in that hospital bed alone, bleeding out our baby while Jaxon ignored my calls.His face when he finally arrived. Blank. Emp

POV: ISLA (Present Day)My first week at Apex Technologies was a carefully orchestrated performance.Every move calculated. Every word measured. Every interaction designed to establish exactly who Dr. Isla Vale was.Brilliant. Cold. Untouchable.And nothing, absolutely nothing like Isla Romano.My office was directly across from Jaxon's.I could see his door from my desk. Could watch him come and go. Could observe without being observed.It was perfect. And torturous.Every time I saw him, my heart did this stupid flutter-stop thing that I hated. Every time I heard his voice in the hallway, my spine went rigid.But I never let it show. Dr. Vale was ice. She didn't react. Didn't feel.She just worked.The problems at Apex were exactly what I'd expected.The user authentication protocol I'd built needed quarterly updates. It had been three years without proper maintenance. The system was full of vulnerabilities.The database architecture had memory leaks everywhere. I'd designed redunda

POV: ISLATwo weeks into my time at Apex, and my revenge was surgical.Every fix I implemented made me more indispensable. Every solution I provided showed exactly how much they needed me.But I wasn't just fixing things.I was building a case. Gathering evidence. Preparing to expose the truth about who really built this empire.The board meeting was scheduled for Tuesday morning.I'd been at Apex for exactly fifteen days. Long enough to do a complete audit. Long enough to understand every failure. Long enough to prepare my presentation.I walked into the boardroom at 9 AM sharp. Jaxon was already there, along with six board members. All men. All older. All looking at me with varying degrees of skepticism and interest."Gentlemen," I said, opening my laptop. "Let's talk about why Apex is failing."I pulled up my first slide. A complex diagram of the system architecture."This," I said, "is the foundation of Apex Technologies. It's elegant. Efficient. Genius-level work. Whoever built t

POV: JAXONThat night, I came home to chaos.Vivian was in the living room, a bottle of wine already half-empty on the coffee table. Another opened beside it.It was already 9 PM."You're home early," she said, her words slightly slurred."Are you drunk?""Not yet. But working on it."I loosened my tie and sat down across from her. "What's going on, Vivian?""Nothing… Everything… Does it matter?""You showed up at my office today. Made a scene. Jennifer said you were screaming.""I wasn't screaming. I was expressing concern.""About what?"She took a long drink of wine. "Your consultant. Dr. Vale.""What about her?""Stay away from her."I frowned. "Why?""Because I'm telling you to. Fire her.""Fire her? Vivian, she's the only reason Apex is stabilizing. The board loves her. She's brilliant.""I don't care how brilliant she is!" Vivian's voice rose. "She's dangerous. I have a bad feeling about her.""A bad feeling? That's not a reason to fire someone.""It's reason enough for me."I