Semua Bab My Secretary Is The Mistress: Bab 81 - Bab 90

THE DISTANCE IS AFFECTING THEM Fourteen days after Cole had walked into the office and found an empty desk, a disconnected number, and a resignation email that had arrived in his inbox like a door being closed from the other side. Fourteen days that had somehow managed to feel longer than the entire three weeks that had come before them. Everything with Lyla was finished. Done, completely and permanently, he'd spent months building toward — the embezzlement documented, the conspiracy evidenced, the recordings catalogued, the missing divorce papers traced to their deliberate destruction, and the destruction traced to her. All of it assembled. All of it is unchallengeable. The marriage had collapsed under the weight of what it had actually been, and Lyla's lawyer — the one who had stepped out of the car that afternoon with the particular confidence of someone a

ROAD TO HERCole left the building less than ten minutes after Linda handed him the address.The convoy was already assembled in the underground garage by the time he reached it — two black SUVs, engine running, security detail in position. Standard protocol since everything with Lyla. He got into the back of the lead vehicle.They moved.And for the first twenty minutes, he sat with the folded paper in his hand and watched the city give way to itself — the density of the centre thinning into neighbourhoods, into roads that moved at a different pace, into the kind of streets that didn't register as urgent.He became aware of the convoy around him at some point past the first half hour.Looked out at the second SUV tracking them in the side mirror.Thought about what they would look like, arriving at a modest house with an apple tree and a yellow security light.His jaw tightened.He considered sending them back. Because the convoy felt like everything she'd run from. The scale of hi

A NEW BEGINNING  Cole's grip on her hand lingered, a silent promise wrapped in warmth. Helen, too, held on tightly, as if they were all tethered to a moment that felt both fleeting and infinite. His thumb traced gentle patterns across her fingers, a tender gesture that spoke volumes without words. It was the same instinctive movement he reserved for the things that held significance in his life, his touch resonating with the quiet reverence of someone who understood the power of connection. She lifted her gaze to meet his, their eyes locked in a shared understanding that transcended the chaos around them. In that simple moment, the world faded away, leaving only the warmth of their intertwined hands and the bond that drew them closer together. "You still haven't shaved." The corner of his mouth moved. "I've been somewhat distracted." "Several day

THE JOURNEY WITH HIM The suitcase sat beside the front door. Helen had arrived with a duffel bag and hadn't accumulated much in the weeks since — a few things her mother had pressed on her, the vitamins from the pharmacy, the book she'd been trying to finish. The smallness of it made the moment feel more honest somehow. She wasn't dismantling a life. She was choosing to continue somewhere else. Margaret stood in the hallway. She had been moving around the house for the past hour doing things that didn't strictly need doing — adjusting the throw on the sofa, reorganizing the spice rack she'd reorganized two days ago, checking windows that were already locked. The particular industry of a woman who was feeling something large and needed her hands occupied. Now she stood still. Looking at her daughter. "You have everything?" she asked.

THE NURSERY Helen stared at him. "What?" Cole had the expression of a man who had made a decision he stood behind completely and was only now, in the moment of revealing it, becoming fully aware that it required context. "The nursery," he said. She looked at him. "You made a nursery." "I started one. Then I stopped." "Cole." She held up a hand. "You found out about this baby this morning." "I know." "You drove to my mother's house." "Yes." "We spent the entire evening there." "Yes." "And somewhere in between all of that—" "I made several phone calls." "Several." "A great many, actually." He paused. "I may have slightly terrified my interior design