Semua Bab You Broke My Heart, Now Watch Me Rise : Bab 51 - Bab 60

When the Past Refuses to Sign Away Its PowerELENA lifted the phone to her ear, her fingers tightening slightly around it as the call connected.“Hello?” she said, keeping her voice steady.“Mrs. Brooks— sorry, Ms. Elena,” her lawyer corrected himself quickly. “I just left Marcus’s residence.”Her heart skipped. She straightened in the chair instinctively, every muscle in her body going taut. Eamon, who had been leaning casually against the edge of the desk, noticed the shift immediately. His posture changed, attention sharpening, though he said nothing.“And?” Elena asked, her voice barely above a whisper.There was a pause on the other end. A heavy one.“He refused to sign the papers.”Elena’s lips parted. “Refused?” she repeated, disbelief flooding her tone. “On what grounds?”“He claims the divorce is ‘unnecessary’ and insists that the marriage is still salvageable,” the lawyer said, his voice professional but edged with frustration. “He also questioned the timing, implied coercio

Sign or BurnTHE call came at seven forty-three in the morning. Elena had just dropped Evan at school. She was still in her car with the engine running when her phone lit up with her lawyer's name."Tell me it's good news," she said, her voice filled with anticipation."It isn't." Barrister Kemi exhaled, and Elena could feel her heart sinking. What now? "Marcus has filed for joint custody. And Elena... he's alleging you're an unfit mother."The words landed like a huge slap on her face."Unfit." She repeated it slowly. "On what grounds is he declaring me unfit? If anything, he should be the one! After all these years of...""Please, relax and listen, Elena. Cases like this wouldn't be solved by emotions and only facts. For the joint custody, he alleges that your relationship with your employer is not safe for his son. He's framing it as a conflict of interest that endangered Evan. His argument is that you left your son in the care of a man you barely knew, and that man's lifestyle pose

Temporary Custody?THE hearing lasted four hours and twenty minutes.Elena sat beside Kemi at the plaintiff's table in a grey dress she had chosen deliberately. It was professional, unassuming, and nothing that could be described as flashy or inappropriate. She had her documentation folder, her composure, and most of all, she had Kemi.What she also had was Eamon in the public gallery, which she had specifically told him not to do.She noticed him the moment she sat down. He sat in the third row at the aisle seat with a plain jacket and no aide. He looked like a moderately successful accountant. He had clearly dressed to disappear into a room and had almost managed it.Elena didn't acknowledge him. She pretended like she didn't even see him. She didn't want the lawyer to point it out and weaponize her with the fact that he was here.Rachel Coker was everything the name had suggested: in her early forties, immaculately dressed, and an unhurried speech. She spoke to the judge the way a

The BloodSHE told him to pull over, and he did so without hesitation because he understood what was going through her mind now.Elena got out of the car, stood on the pavement, and breathed in deeply to clear her head. Eamon got out too, but didn't touch her. Instead, he stood nearby with the same instinct a person has when someone is about to fall, close enough but not too close."I need a minute," she said."Take all the time you need Elena," he told her calmly.She stood there. Across the street, a woman was buying plantain from a roadside seller. A child on a bicycle swerved around a pothole and laughed. The ordinary world still kept moving."He was going to hand my son to them," Elena started after a while, her voice starting off shaky but steadying the more she spoke. "To people who exist to use people as leverage." Her body wasn't shaking too, she was somewhere past that. "He would have done that. He would have looked Evan in the face and...""But he didn't," Eamon said."But

The Voice on the LineTHE phone was still warm in her hand when she got back in the car. Eamon was parked at the curb, engine off. He watched her get in without saying anything. She sat with the phone in her lap and stared through the windscreen and didn't speak for a moment.Then she held the phone out and showed him the numberbtgat just called her. Eamon looked at it and his entire body went still."You know it," the expression on his face confirmed it.He didn't answer straight away, instead his eyes were still fixed on the screen. Elena looked at him worriedly."Eamon.""Yes." His voice was flat. "I know it.""From where?"He leaned back slowly. "Three years ago. The day after I refused Krix." He paused. "This number called me. I didn't pick up."Elena looked at her phone and then at him."She has been sitting on my number this whole time.""She sits on a lot of things." He turned to look at her. "What did she say?""That Marcus has gone off-script, and she wants a meeting." Elen