All Chapters of Divorce Clause: Heir Included: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Sitting at the heavy mahogany desk in Havenfall still feels like wearing a dead man’s suit.When I first took the mantle of Don, I kept my operations in the private study of my penthouse. A few months in, Marcus leaned against the doorframe and told me the family needed to see me in the official executive office. I didn't want it. I moved anyway. Now, I’m used to the leather of Julian’s chair, but the ghost of his presence remains—a reminder that I’m just holding the line.The Cocolink is the only thing keeping the blood pumping through my veins.Leadership was a minefield at the start. Between the internal saboteurs and the hollow ache Zack left behind, I nearly drowned. But the vultures circling the family legacy gave me a reason to grit my teeth. They wanted to see the Wright name crumble; I decided to build a fortress instead.Not a second passes where I don’t wish I could rip the hands off the clock and drag Zack back from the fire. I’d trade my soul for his in a heartbeat. But I

The heavy oak doors of Havenfall’s main house hadn't even finished vibrating before Zack was moving. He didn't wait for Nathan and Ethan to stop barking at each other. He didn't wait for the inevitable moment Nathan’s possessive streak turned the room into a crime scene. Ethan’s sudden, aggressive defense of their "partnership" was a perfect smoke screen. It bought Zack the three minutes of chaos he needed to slip through the side servant’s entrance and vanish into the humid afternoon air of the lagoon.He didn't take the main roads. He knew the Cocolink’s Enforcers. He knew how Nathan’s mind worked—predictable in its ruthlessness, calculating in its pursuit. Zack cut through the salt-slicked alleyways, doubling back through a crowded fish market and leaping a low stone wall into a residential courtyard. By the time he reached the apartment, his lungs burned, and his heart hammered a frantic rhythm against his ribs.He fumbled with the keys, the metal biting into his palm. The door gr

The first thing that hits Nathan is the terror in Zack’s eyes. A cold, sharp fear that makes Nathan’s gut twist with a specific brand of self-loathing. Zack is backed into the corner of the safe house, shoulders hunched, looking less like the refined man he’d seen today and more like the broken boy Nathan had first pulled out of the gutters of Havenfall.Then, Nathan sees why.A small, sturdy shape is partially obscured by Zack’s legs. Pint-sized hands are white-knuckled as they clutch Zack’s slacks. A pair of wide, two-toned eyes—one violet, one blue—peer out from the shadow of Zack’s thigh.Mine, Caleb snarls in the back of Nathan’s mind, the primal instinct of the Cocolink bloodline roaring to life. The boy and the cub. They’re mine.We don't know that yet, Nathan argues internally, though his pulse is already hammer-drilling against his throat. He can't explain the magnetic pull toward the tiny creature.I don’t care who she came from, Caleb growls. I see her. She’s Cocolink. Look

"That isn't fair," Zack snapped, his voice vibrating with a jagged edge. "And it’s sick. How can you even think about dragging an innocent kid into this mess?""You want to talk about ethics?" Nathan’s growl was a physical weight, a low-frequency rumble that made the loose gravel on the hillside dance. "The way you 'ethically' chose to stash my daughter in Cocolink—a territory that couldn't protect a paper bag—all while knowing Julian Wright is breathing down your neck?""We wouldn't be any safer in Havenfall," Zack shot back. He purposefully left out the fact that Julian was only half the problem; Nathan’s own inner circle was a viper’s nest."At least in Havenfall, there’s a Don who can actually hold a perimeter," Nathan rumbled, his silver eyes locking onto Zack’s. "Now stop the games. Who is her father?""Why does it matter, Nathan? She isn't yours. Let it go."Nathan didn't let it go. He began to prowl, circling Zack like a predator assessing a kill. "Because until you give me a

Madeline’s POV "We have a problem." The voice over the line was a serrated blade, cutting through the silence of my bedroom.I sat up, the silk sheets sliding down my skin. My pulse quickened, locking onto the cold frequency of Julian Wright’s voice. "I thought the board was set. What happened?""The board just caught fire," Julian answered. "Nathan found Zack.""Excuse me?" The air in the room suddenly felt thin, like I’d been shoved into a vacuum. "Zack is a pile of ash in a forest grave. How can he have found him?""It’s possible he isn't as dead as I led you to believe," he hedged."What the f**k does that mean, Julian?" I hissed, my nails digging into the velvet headboard. "Death isn't a suggestion. It's a binary. Either someone is breathing or they’re rot. Besides, you didn't lead me to believe anything—I lit that match. I watched the roof collapse.""I got cold feet, alright?" Julian blurted, the sound of his ragged breathing tinny through the speaker. "I pulled him out. He’s b