Semua Bab I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON: Bab 71 - Bab 77

THALIAThe awkwardness after Brandon and Clara left didn’t disappear immediately.For the next few minutes, the table kept trying too hard to get back into the mood. Conversations overlapped louder than before, people laughed a little too quickly at jokes that weren’t that funny.Olivia, thankfully, took over most of the talking.By the second round of drinks, she had somehow managed to drag the entire table into an argument about which department inside Vale Biotech would survive longest during a zombie apocalypse.“The research floor would die first,” one of the analysts argued confidently.Olivia gasped.“That is deeply offensive.”That finally broke the remaining tension around the table. Laughter returned properly after that, conversations splitting into smaller groups while music pulsed through the club around us.I relaxed into my seat slowly, letting the noise settle around me instead of inside me.Adrian stayed beside me most of the night, though not in an overwhelming way.

THALIAI didn’t fully wake up when I got out of bed. My body moved before my mind did, still caught in sleep as I walked down the hallway toward the bathroom.The apartment was too quiet, and I just wanted to have a nice shower and be on my phone the whole day.The fog cleared from my eyes the minute I opened the bathroom door.Brandon was inside.He had just stepped out of the shower.Water still ran faintly behind him, steam clinging to the glass and curling around the mirror. He stood there with only one towel wrapped low around his waist, another hanging loosely over his shoulder, his skin still wet, with his hair pushed back. And he was looking so freaking hot.It was the kind of sight that didn’t make sense in a normal morning.It also didn’t leave room for slow processing.For a second, I just stared.Then he turned slightly, catching me in the mirror instead of fully reacting.“Are you done staring?” he said flatly.That snapped me back.“What are you doing in my bathroom?” m

THALIABy the time I stepped out of my apartment that morning, I felt lighter than I had in weeks.Not because my problems had disappeared.They hadn't.But for the first time in a long time, something good had happened.The Ravens Elite contract was real.Nobody could take that away from me.I slid into my car, dropped my bag onto the passenger seat, and started the engine.The meeting wasn't until later in the morning, but there was somewhere I wanted to go first.The hospital.Traffic was manageable, and forty minutes later I was walking through the familiar entrance with a small bouquet of fresh flowers tucked beneath my arm.A nurse greeted me as I passed the station.I smiled back and continued down the hallway until I reached my mother's room.The room was quiet except for the steady hum of medical equipment.Mom lay exactly where she always was.Still.Peaceful.I pulled a chair closer and sat beside her."Hi, Mom."My fingers wrapped gently around her hand.The skin felt warm

BRANDON I was losing my mind. The entire morning had been one call after another, and every single conversation somehow managed to be worse than the last. One company wanted to "review the terms of their partnership." Another said they needed time to reassess future collaborations. A third didn't even bother pretending. They all wanted out! I dropped my phone onto the desk and leaned back in my chair, staring at the ceiling for a second before another call started vibrating across the table. The second I saw the company's name, I already knew what the conversation was going to be about. The Ravens Elite. Or more specifically, the fact that The Ravens Elite was no longer working with Langford Biotech. That news alone had done enough damage, but the situation became worse every time someone discovered that Thalia was no longer working here either. People talked. Executives talked even more. By now, half the business world seemed convinced that if Thalia Wentworth had walked