Todos los capítulos de You Chose Her, I Took Your Empire: Capítulo 31 - Capítulo 40

Elena's POVI stepped off the elevator at eight-thirty in the morning.I had barely slept. All night, the silence of my apartment had been filled with the echo of my mother’s voice. Julian had sent her. When his administrative saboteur games failed, he had reached into my personal life and pulled out my mother like a weapon.I expected him to be waiting for me.I pictured him leaning against the edge of my cubicle, his face fixed in that disappointed expression he used whenever he wanted to remind me who held the power. I braced myself for the conversation.I rounded the glass corner near the main reception desk and looked toward my workspace.My desk was empty.The glass-walled office behind my row. Julian’s office was dark. His blinds were open, his desk was clear, and his chair was pulled straight into the kneehole. Next to his door, Marie’s corner cubicle was equally silent.I stopped in the aisle, my bag heavy against my hip.Claire, who sat across the low partition from my desk,

Elena's POVAs five o'clock hit, Claire and Sarah hovered by the edge of my cubicle while I shut down my monitor and slid my laptop into my desk drawer."Come on, Elena," Sarah urged, leaning against the divider with a grin. "It’s your birthday. Let us buy you a proper drink down at the pub across the street. Just one round.""Or three," Claire added warmly. "You’ve worked hard enough for ten lifetimes. You deserve a night out."I smiled, pulling my coat from the rack, but I shook my head gently. "I appreciate it, really. But I just want a quiet night at home. I’ve had enough noise for one week."Sarah let out a dramatic sigh, throwing her hands up in the air. "You are absolute murder on our social life, you know that?""Total buzzkill," Claire teased, though her eyes were soft. "Fine. We begrudgingly release you to your solitary cave. But tomorrow, you’re letting us buy you lunch. No excuses.""Deal," I laughed, hugging them both quickly before grabbing my bag and John’s brown paper

Marie's POVI walked out of the formal dining room, my fingers gripping Julian’s sleeve.Behind us, my brother Luc was still smirking over his wine glass, and my father had already picked up his napkin to wipe his fingers, done with the conversation. My stomach burned with heat. It had been embarrassing to sit there and watch my father pick apart the Lancer numbers while Julian sat silent, but I kept my posture straight.I pulled Julian down the long hallway toward the west wing of the house, away from the dining room and away from my family.Julian walked stiffly beside me. His jaw was clenched so tight the muscles in his cheek twitched, and his eyes were fixed straight on the carpet floor ahead. The moment we passed the double doors leading into my private bedroom suite, he yanked his silk tie down, tearing the top button of his shirt open with a small snap.I closed the heavy oak door behind us, shutting out the quiet murmur of the staff down the hall."Julian," I said, stepping to

Elena's POVI stood up so fast my chair rolled backward and hit the filing cabinet with a dull thud."My notice was approved," I said. "HR finalized my separation paperwork four days ago, Mr. Babcock. My final day is scheduled. The handover documents are already on the shared server."Babcock did not flinch. He stood in front of my cubicle with his hands in his vest pockets, staring at me like I was an unruly line item on an expense audit."HR handles administrative schedules, Elena," Babcock said. "They do not manage institutional solvency. Look at the document on your desk.""I don't need to look at it." I tapped the printed page with my index finger, my hand trembling slightly from the sudden surge of adrenaline. "You cannot just void a signed agreement because a client is panicking in the executive wing.""Section 14, Subsection C," Babcock said, stepping closer to the partition. "When you accepted your promotion to senior risk associate two years ago, you signed the core complian

John's POVJohn's POV The hum of the sedan’s engine faded as I sat idling at the red light three blocks from Elena’s apartment complex. I tapped my fingers against the leather steering wheel, still feeling the faint, lingering warmth of the last two hours. After years of corporate dinners, stiff charity galas, and calculated small talk over untouched hors d'oeuvres, sitting in a cramped, steam-filled ramen shop with Elena had been disarmingly real. I replayed the moment I made the mistake of ordering the level 3 spicy tonkotsu broth—how I choked on the very first sip, coughing until my eyes watered, while Elena handed me her water glass and laughed at my shattered pride. It was an unguarded, human moment. No pretense. No positioning. Just her teasing me while I tried to regain my composure. The light turned green. I shifted into gear and headed north, away from the city’s commercial core and into the winding, dark roads that led toward the ridge. As the streetlights grew sparse and