Semua Bab DEAR EX, IT'S TOO LATE FOR REGRET.: Bab 21 - Bab 30

​THE NEW SUBPLOT BEGINS.​Emma's POV.The security guards managed to block Derek at the city archives before he could alter any historical files, and by the time the weekend ended, the financial newspapers were still talking about the massive thirty percent drop that had completely crippled Jace’s Enterprises, but my ex-husband's sudden weakness only made Vera more desperate to find a new way to strike back at my position. I was sitting at the vanity table in Nathan’s master suite on Monday morning while he adjusted his tie in the mirror behind me, and our quiet routine was interrupted when my phone flashed with a high-priority enrollment update from Pearl’s private academy, showing that Vera had somehow used her remaining high-society favors to secure an emergency transfer for Gina into the exact same second-grade classroom as my daughter.​"Vera just registered Gina at Pearl’s school using her family's old academic recommendations, and

​STORMING THE ACADEMY.​Emma's POV.The morning sun was barely heating the stone steps of the elite academy when I marched through the main entrance with Nathan walking right by my side, and my heels made a sharp, echoing sound on the polished floors as we went straight toward the administrative wing without waiting for the receptionist to announce our arrival. My heart was pounding with absolute fury because Derek's mistress's child had deliberately targeted my biological daughter, and the thought of Pearl crying in the dirt while her chest tightened from her asthma was enough to make me want to tear down this entire institution brick by brick. Nathan looked completely imposing in his dark gray suit, his large hand resting firmly on my lower back to guide me through the heavy oak doors of the principal’s office, and the school headmaster, Mr. Vance, jumped up from his leather chair in complete shock the moment he saw the two of us storm into his private space wi

​DEREK'S FAILED CONTRACT.​Derek’s POV.The morning after Vera’s public disaster at the academy was absolute hell because the high-society mothers had already spread the news of Gina’s suspension to every investor in the city, so my only remaining option to save Jace’s Enterprises from complete liquidation was to secure the new municipal logistics contract that the city council was awarding this afternoon. I adjusted my tie in the reflection of the glass doors of the municipal building, smoothing down the front of my suit while my assistant, Carl, hurried behind me with the heavy presentation folders containing our discounted shipping rates, and I forced myself to put on a confident smile because this multi-million dollar deal was the only thing that could pay off our mounting bank debts and keep the auditors from seizing our main warehouse next week.​"The review board is already seated in the main conference room on the top floor, Mr. W

​VERA’S WICKED SCHEME.​Vera’s POV.The cheap hotel room smelled like old carpet and stale coffee, and I kept walking from the cracked window to the small wooden desk because Derek had not answered my calls for the last five hours, which proved that he was becoming completely useless after letting Nathan and Emma take away his municipal contract and his primary distribution routes in a single afternoon. Gina was sitting on the edge of the unmade bed crying because her new shoes were dirty, but I did not have the time or the patience to comfort her when our entire high-society lifestyle was collapsing around us, so I pulled out my secondary prepaid phone and dialed the number for Marcus, a shady tabloid journalist who had spent the last ten years writing ruined reputation stories for the city's biggest entertainment magazines.​"Marcus, it is Vera, and I am sitting in a pathetic motel room near the expressway because Nathan Zander used his money to ki

​THE BREAKING POINT FOR DEREK.​Derek’s POV.The drive back from the wrecked office building was a complete nightmare because the private investigators had refused to follow me inside without an upfront cash deposit, and the moment I kicked open the front door of our rented suburban house, I found the kitchen table covered in urgent notices from the shipping union stating that our remaining warehouse laborers were officially striking on the loading docks due to unpaid wages from the last two pay periods. I slammed my car keys onto the counter, looking for the main corporate checkbook to see how much liquidity we had left to satisfy the union reps before they blocked our remaining trucks, but as I opened the top drawer of the desk, my eyes fell directly onto a fresh receipt from a luxury jeweler Midtown showing a charge of twenty-five thousand dollars drawn straight from our primary business operational account just three days ago. My heart began hammering against