All Chapters of Ex wife’s return: Claiming the billionaire’s crown: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

Diane had never understood how something as simple as a smell could turn a perfectly normal morning into a personal attack.She had been standing in the kitchen for less than five minutes when the scent of coffee drifting from the machine made her stomach turn so violently that she had to grip the edge of the marble island.Her eyes squeezed shut.For a second, she stood completely still, waiting for the nausea to pass.It didn’t.“Oh, for God’s sake,” she muttered.The kitchen was quiet around her, washed in the pale grey light of the early morning. Diane usually loved mornings like this.Or at least, she used to.Lately, everything had felt wrong.Her sleep had been terrible. She would fall into bed exhausted and somehow wake up feeling as though she hadn’t slept at all. Her body ached for no reason she could explain. Food tasted strange. Some days she was hungry enough to eat everything placed in front of her, and other days, the sight of a meal made her stomach twist.She blamed s

Scarlett had finally stopped pretending she was undecided.For weeks, she had told herself she was simply considering her options , that Napa was an idea.A possibility.A place she might return to when things in Manhattan became too complicated.But that morning, standing in the middle of her bedroom with half of her wardrobe spread across the bed and two open suitcases waiting on the floor, Scarlett had finally admitted the truth.She was leaving.Not today,maybe not tomorrow but she was leaving.The realization should have felt freeing.Instead, it sat heavily in her chest.Scarlett stood in front of the open wardrobe for several seconds, one of Theo’s tiny sweaters hanging from her fingers. She had packed a few things already, quietly and without telling anyone. There was no point in announcing her departure until she had figured out exactly when she was going.And more importantly,how she was going to tell the people who mattered.Grant.Cassian.Roxy knew already of course. She was

Cassian had been staring at Elise’s message for almost ten minutes.‘Something came up. I’m sorry, handsome. Rain check?’Three short lines.Ordinarily, he might have found the message mildly irritating. Elise had a habit of canceling plans as though she had never learned the concept of inconvenience, and then appearing the next day with a smile beautiful enough to make people forget why they had been annoyed with her in the first place.Cassian, however, had never been particularly easy to distract.And tonight, something about the message bothered him.Not because she had cancelled, something in the air was not just right.He leaned back against the leather seat of his car, the phone resting loosely in his hand as he looked through the windshield at the city ahead of him. He was parked outside the restaurant where they had planned to have dinner.Alone.His driver waited silently in the front seat.Cassian looked at Elise’s message again.Something came up.The words were harmless.He

Diane had been staring at the hospital doors for nearly five minutes.She had told herself she was waiting for the elevator.That was the excuse she gave herself every time someone walked past.The truth was that she couldn’t make herself leave.Not yet.Her fingers were wrapped tightly around the strap of her handbag as she stood at the end of the corridor, her eyes fixed on the private room just ahead.Grant was inside.She had watched Scarlett go inside.Diane’s jaw tightened.She hadn’t planned on coming to the hospital that afternoon. In fact, she had spent the better part of the morning trying to convince herself that she had no reason to come at all.Grant was recovering.That was what the staff had told her.The surgery had gone well.He was awake.And somehow, despite knowing all of that, Diane had still found herself getting dressed.Still found herself sitting in the backseat of her car.Still found herself walking through the hospital doors.She lied to herself that it was beca

The first thing Cassian felt was pain.A sharp, relentless ache pulsed through the side of his head.Then came the taste of metal.Blood.Cassian’s brows drew together.For several seconds, he remained completely still.His head felt heavy,his thoughts were slow.Fragments of memory came back to him in pieces.The warehouse.The darkness.His phone.Elise.Then-The impact.Cassian’s eyes opened.Everything was blurry.Light cut through the darkness in thin, pale streams, slipping through the dirty windows high above him. His vision shifted slightly as he blinked.Once.Twice.Then everything became clear.He immediately tried to move.Nothing happened.His hands were tied behind the chair and his legs were secured too.Cassian went completely still.For the first time since opening his eyes, his expression changed.His jaw tightened.He slowly tested the restraints.Strong.Professional enough that they wouldn’t come loose simply because he pulled harder.His pulse remained steady.But his mind