All Chapters of After the Divorce, My Ex Husband Came Crawling Back: Chapter 201 - Chapter 210

VICTORHer jaw tightens. For a moment, neither of us says anything, the ring still sitting on her hand between us like something neither of us knows how to touch."Legally," I say finally, "as of this morning, nothing has to change. I understand that. I'm not asking you to accept a marriage you didn't choose because a piece of paper says you did." I hold her gaze. "But I won't act like your husband until you choose it yourself, with your own hand on the pen, in front of me, so there's no question left standing between us. Not financially. Not any other way. If we never find who did this, I'll dissolve it myself rather than hold you to terms you never agreed to."Something flickers across her face, not quite trust, not yet, but something that isn't pure fury either."That's convenient," she says. "Now that you've already had what you wanted."The words land harder than I expect, and I understand, watching her face, exactly what she means by it, what happened between us last night, bef

MAXWELLI sit with Reeves's business card in my hand for three days before I do anything about it.I've kept it since that night outside the BBI office, tucked into the same jacket pocket, moved from suit to suit without ever quite throwing it away. I told myself at the time it was instinct, a man keeping a useful contact in his back pocket the way you keep any contact that might matter later. I understand now it was something closer to premeditation, even if I hadn't admitted the shape of it to myself yet.Eleanor's garden is still sitting in my chest like a bruise that hasn't finished forming. Ariana, Bindy by blood. The twins, once a month. Selene, laughing with some stranger while I stood there discovering exactly how small I actually am in a world I thought I understood. Jonathan, revealing himself as one more piece of a structure that's apparently been closing around me for longer than I knew to be afraid of it.Giants fall. I told myself that in the dark outside Eleanor's h

###205: Under the NapkinMAXWELLThe café on Corven Street is exactly as unremarkable as I remember it, faded green awning, a handful of tables, the kind of place nobody important would ever choose to be seen in, which is precisely why I chose it.Reeves is already there when I arrive, seated at the back table facing the door, a cup of coffee in front of her that she hasn't touched. She doesn't stand when I sit across from her."Mr. Cox.""Agent Reeves.""You're punctual. I appreciate that in a source." She studies me for a moment, unhurried. "Though I notice you're alone, as instructed.""I told you it wasn't a game.""You told me a lot of things on the phone. I'm still deciding how much of it I believe."A waitress appears briefly, takes my order for coffee I don't intend to drink, and disappears again. Reeves waits until she's out of earshot before continuing."So. What is it you have for me, Mr. Cox?"I slide a napkin across the table toward her, folded once, unremarkable, the kin

VICTORThe boardroom empties slowly behind me, the last of the directors filing out with their usual murmured pleasantries, and I let Finch close the door before I finally sit down at my own desk and allow myself to feel exactly as tired as three hours of quarterly projections have made me.The report is waiting on my desk when I get there. Three days, and my lawyer finally has something concrete.I open it and read it twice, because the first read doesn't make sense against what I expected to find.The document is genuine. Not a forgery, not a fabrication, the same agreement I had drafted and sent to Selene before she left for her aunt's. The signature is hers as well, verified against six prior contracts, the pen pressure consistent, the letter formation consistent, every marker my lawyer's expert could check confirming the same thing.Selene signed it.Or, more precisely, whatever hand held the pen produced a signature that is, by every forensic measure available, indistinguishabl

SELENESoon after, Victor's message comes through, and I read it three times before I decide how to answer.‘We need to talk. If we're voiding this, we should do it together, properly, and discuss what comes next. My suite, this evening, whenever suits you.’I tell myself I'm going because it's the responsible thing to do. After all, whatever happens to that agreement should happen with both of us in the room. I don't examine too closely why my hands are unsteady packing my bag, or why I bring Daniel's flask with me, already half empty by the time I leave, sipping it in the car because it's the only thing keeping the restless heat under my skin from becoming unbearable.By evening I'm standing in Victor's suite, the flask tucked against my side, listening to him lay out exactly what his lawyer confirmed. The document is genuine, and the signature too. But there’s no clean answer for how either of those things came to exist without my knowledge.I hear maybe half of it.The rest of my