บททั้งหมดของ Divorced on Our Wedding Night: บทที่ 11 - บทที่ 20

The first threat didn’t come as a message.It came as silence.My security detail because apparently I had one now noticed it before I did.Routine patterns matter, Dominic had explained. Predictability keeps danger manageable.So when something disrupted routineIt mattered.Wednesday morning, I left Dr. Moore’s office building at exactly 6:10 p.m., as I had for the past three days.The street was moderately busy. Office workers heading home. Taxis lining the curb. Nothing unusual.Except the florist across the street.Its lights were off.That wouldn’t have meant anything except it never closed before eight.Dominic’s voice came through the earpiece one of his agents wore discreetly. I didn’t hear it, but I saw the subtle shift in posture.Alert.The car door opened for me immediately.Too quickly.I slid inside, heart rate ticking upward.“What is it?” I asked.“Probably nothing,” the driver said calmly.That meant it wasn’t nothing.As the car pulled away, I glanced back.The flor

By morning, I was done being escorted.Done being watched.Done being moved like a chess piece across someone else’s board.Cassian was in the conference wing with Dominic and legal counsel when I walked in unannounced.The room went quiet immediately.Dominic straightened. “Ms. Cross.”Cassian’s eyes flicked to me, sharp and assessing. “You shouldn’t be down here.”“I’m exactly where I should be.”The men exchanged subtle looks.“Give us a minute,” Cassian said.They hesitated.“Now.”When the doors shut, silence filled the glass-walled room.“You’re angry,” he observed.“Yes.”“Understandably.”“That’s not why I’m here.”He waited.“I want in.”His expression didn’t change but something behind it did.“In?” he repeated.“On everything. Victor. Seraphina. The investigation. All of it.”“No.”The refusal was immediate.I didn’t flinch.“You don’t get to sideline me anymore.”“This isn’t about control,” he said evenly. “It’s about risk.”“And I’m already at risk.”“That doesn’t mean I

“You’re not going for reconciliation, right?” Naomi asked carefully.I fastened the slim gold bracelet around my wrist and met her eyes in the mirror.“No,” I said calmly. “I’m going for closure.”And closure, I had learned, didn’t always look like forgiveness.Sometimes it looked like walking into a room and proving you were never the weak one to begin with.The ballroom of the Blackridge Grand Hotel glittered like something out of a dream.Crystal chandeliers cast warm light over polished marble floors. Wealth hummed in the air measured, deliberate, rehearsed. Laughter rose in curated waves as investors, politicians, and socialites drifted in expensive fabrics and calculated smiles.At the center of it all stood Cassian Blackridge.Tailored tuxedo. Perfect posture. Expression unreadable.Untouchable.But tonight, there was a tension beneath the surface. A tightness in his jaw. A subtle distraction in his gaze.Because he was waiting.And he hated that he was.“Relax,” Gideon murmure

The article dropped at 6:03 a.m.This one wasn’t speculative.It was surgical.Cross & Moore Under Investigation? Questions Arise Over Conflict of Interest in Blackridge-Adjacent Litigation.I read it twice before the weight of it settled.Not gossip.Not romance.Professional damage.Naomi, still half-asleep, blinked at my expression. “What happened?”“They’ve tied the Henderson case to Blackridge Holdings.”Her eyes sharpened instantly. “That’s a stretch.”“Not if you blur the lines carefully.”The piece suggested that because I was formerly married to Cassian, any litigation involving industries even remotely connected to Blackridge Holdings presented a “potential ethical concern.”There was no proof.Just implication.Which was worse.My phone buzzed.Helena.“Office. Now.”Dr. Helena Moore did not panic.She dissected.“Vivian Sterling,” she said without hesitation, tossing the tablet onto her desk. “This has her fingerprints.”“You’re certain?”“She sits on three advisory boards

The auditors arrived at 9:00 a.m. sharp.No fanfare.No drama.Just quiet authority and leather briefcases.Moore & Associates operated like a disciplined machine. Files prepared. Access granted. Transparency flawless.Helena stood at the head of the conference table as introductions were made.I stood beside her.Not behind.That detail mattered.One auditor, a silver-haired woman with sharp eyes, addressed me directly.“Ms. Cross, given the public speculation regarding your previous marriage, we will require additional disclosure documentation.”“Of course,” I replied calmly. “You’ll find full separation of financial interest beginning the morning after the dissolution.”Her brow lifted slightly.“Efficient.”“I don’t like unfinished business.”Across the table, Helena hid a faint smile.By midday, the press had shifted tone.Now it wasn’t just gossip.It was spectacle.Blackridge Board Under Internal Review — Rift Emerging?That headline hit harder.Because it meant Cassian had mov