All Chapters of The Billionaire Behind My Divorce: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

THEODOREThe city moved below him in restless fragments - arguments spilling onto sidewalks, laughter rising from café tables, impatient drivers honking through traffic that never truly slept. And, in the dark corner of an alley, a group of teenage boys lurked, looking like they were especially up to no good.Theodore watched those boys more closely, holding his mug of coffee in one hand. The boys stood in a circle, listening to one who was evidently the ringleader. Theodore didn’t need to know what they were saying to know they were plotting some kind of prank or heist. He placed his mug on his desk and focused on the one talking.Coming out of a bakery along the road, another boy, about the same age as the group of thugs, was headed right towards them. When Theodore saw how one peeked and updated the rest, he immediately knew what was going to happen.He stood up abruptly, old instincts kicking in, heart picking up pace like he was the poor lad about to be ambushed.“Sir?” Owen open

THEODOREIt looked like it was going to rain. Dark clouds had gathered in the sky, and the winds had begun to blow more fiercely. The day was getting darker, and the birds were seeking shelter as all signs pointed to a brewing storm.Theodore looked up, as though he was trying to determine the exact moment the first drop would pour. He held his palm out, as if calling to the rain, then he stepped out of his grey Lincoln Nautilus and onto the narrow front path of Uncle Wu’s modest home.The house sat quietly at the end of a tree-lined lane, its cream walls softened by climbing jasmine vines that had grown wild over the years.It was not large, not extravagant, yet it carried the unmistakable warmth of a place that had known his laughter, arguments, forgiveness, and long evenings shared over simple meals.Theodore paused before knocking. Every time he came here, something inside him loosened.It always replayed in his mind the fateful day Uncle Wu found him asleep in front of his depart

THEODOREThe wind grew fiercer as the night wore on. A light shower had begun, but Theodore didn’t care. He parked outside Vermont Park and made his way toward Ivory Arch, walking against the thinning crowd drifting toward the exits.His black umbrella held steady above him. His steps carried a borrowed certainty. The only thing he knew was that she needed him - and the moment he read her message, his mind snapped into motion. No deliberation, no negotiation, no need for explanation. He had simply moved.Only when he reached the bridge and found himself alone did thought finally catch up with him.“What am I doing here?” he muttered under his breath. “Didn’t I say I’d avoid this completely? How am I here right now?” He rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. “Teddy… you’re finished.”He exhaled sharply.“But she said she needs me,” he argued with himself almost immediately. “What am I supposed to do? Abandon her?”His mind drifted back to the last time he had

THEODOREThe house was cool, testifying to the grim weather outside. The rains still poured down, showing no signs of giving soon.Theodore lay on his bed, staring into the darkness. Sleep had refused him completely. He turned to one side, and then the other, but nothing worked.He stood and paced the room, checked the rain through the window, and read the same paragraph of a book three times without understanding a single word. Eventually, he surrendered and dropped back onto the mattress, exhaling slowly.Every part of him was just too aware that she was downstairs.The same confusion that had driven him to seek counsel from Uncle Wu returned with sharper teeth. Before he had even finished convincing himself to stay away from Alicia - away from the Rutherfords, away from the complications - his entire being had already chosen otherwise.This was the worst kind of mess because it had no name.There were no rules and no safe ending.He sat up again, hands supporting his head between t

THEODOREThe new Connard-Rutherford proposal rested on his desk, a pristine file waiting for judgment, patient and confident, as though it already knew it would not leave untouched.If he had not left Alicia in his home that morning, if she had not spent the night wrapped in his hoodie, if he had not seen the message that illuminated more than she intended, this decision would have been simple.He would have pushed the file aside. He would have told Owen to decline. And that would have been the end of it.But nothing about Alicia had ever remained simple.Theodore opened the file again.The terms were familiar - refined, polished, increasingly generous. The original fifty-fifty revenue split had softened with each submission. Fifty-five. Sixty. Now sixty-five to thirty-five.Any lower and Connard-Rutherford would be operating at a loss. It made no strategic sense.He had ordered a full corporate review months ago when the board questioned his repeated refusals. Everything had come bac