جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 50

Rosa's PovThe memo appeared in my inbox at nine in the morning, forwarded from an address I didn't recognize, subject line blank.I opened it out of curiosity more than suspicion.Board Resolution 114-B. Formal Position Regarding CEO Marital Status.I read it twice before the words fully registered.Divorce Rosa Park within thirty days, or the board will move to block the Sinclair acquisition and initiate proceedings to remove Daniel Gosling as CEO. Vote: eleven to zero.My hands went cold around my phone.He'd known. He'd known since yesterday morning, based on the timestamp, and he hadn't said a single word about it.I sat at the kitchen island staring at the screen, rereading the sentence divorce Rosa Park within thirty days until the words stopped feeling like language and started feeling like a countdown clock ticking somewhere in my chest.This was what I'd feared since the moment I moved into this apartment.That I was temporary. That the stability, the credit card, the prenat

Rosa's PovI didn't leave the couch that night. Daniel did, retreating to his office the way he always did when a conversation went somewhere he couldn't follow.I stayed there in the dark, my knees pulled to my chest, the wreckage of my own accusation still sitting heavy in the room.I think I'm just your physical release.I'd said it. I'd meant it in the moment, though some quieter part of me suspected the truth was messier than that, tangled up in fear and exhaustion and thirty days ticking down toward an ending I couldn't control.I started researching two days later.Not because I'd decided anything. Because I needed to know my own options existed independent of whatever Daniel chose to do with his board, his father's legacy, his careful strategic silences.Single motherhood resources. Custody arrangements when one parent has significant wealth. Financial planning for unmarried mothers.I opened a private browser window each time, closed it the moment I heard footsteps, told myse

 Rosa's Pov  We sat across from each other at his desk the next morning, an actual contract between us instead of vague promises. "Consultant fee," Daniel said, sliding the paper toward me. "Market rate for someone with your credentials. Which, based on Tanaka's reaction alone, is considerably higher than what I initially offered." "I don't want charity terms." "This isn't charity. This is what any outside consultant with your background would command." He tapped the number at the bottom. "James pulled comparable rates from three similar negotiations. This is the actual market value of your work." I looked at the number. It was significant. Independent. Mine, earned through actual skill instead of anything resembling obligation. "Fine." I picked up the pen. "But I want it in writing that I can walk away from this specific project at any poin

  Rosa's Pov  I watched him fire her through the glass conference room wall. No raised voice. No visible anger. Just a flat tone that carried more menace than shouting ever could, his words clipped and precise while Patricia sat across from him, her hands shaking in her lap. "Security will escort you to collect personal items," he said. "Your access has already been revoked. HR will process final compensation according to standard severance, though given the nature of your breach, legal counsel may pursue additional action." "Mr Gosling, please." "That's all, Patricia." I stood at the glass a moment longer after she left, shattered, escorted out by security like she'd never spent five years bringing him coffee and organizing his entire professional life. This was the version of him Johansson had described. T

  Daniel's Pov I found her sitting on the guest room bed when I got home, a folder open beside her, her face pale in a way that stopped me in the doorway. "Rosa." "I know about Robbie." Her voice came out flat, exhausted. "The photos. The money Johansson paid her. All of it." "I suspected as much when the tabloids started." "You suspected." She looked up at me. "You suspected my own stepsister was selling information about me and you didn't tell me." "I didn't have proof until the security firm confirmed it." I crossed the room, sat carefully on the edge of the bed. "I was building the case before I brought it to you." "That's what you always do. Build the case privately before deciding what I'm allowed to know." I didn't argue that point, because after tonight's fight, I understood exactly h