Semua Bab The Wife He Never Knew: Bab 41 - Bab 50

Something searching lived behind Julian's eyes. Eleanor looked away, guilty.Handing off a MacDonald Stradivarius in front of a room full of people wasn't exactly subtle but the opportunity had been too rare to pass up, even knowing full well what conclusions Julian would draw about where the money had come from.She'd accepted that trade-off for Edward's sake.The truth was simpler than anything Julian was probably imagining.Peter had just wired her a massive sum royalties from the Piano line, plus design fees on the new collection, plus a sizable sponsorship windfall after a foreign royal family signed on as an official client for the line.She'd wanted to give her grandfather-in-law that violin for years. This was just the first time she'd actually had the money to make it happen.She'd only reached out to Sean once the funds cleared.Young as he was, Sean Lindqvist ranked among the most celebrated pianists working today genuinely top-tier, globally, with connections across the en

Caleb picked her up after work.Eleanor had offered to treat him to dinner as a thank-you for the night before.The plan fell apart at the mall entrance a crisis at his company yanked him back to handle it personally."You sure you'll be okay on your own?" he asked, hovering by the curb, clearly reluctant to leave.Eleanor gave him a look. "I'm not twelve. This mall isn't exactly a crime scene."She wasn't ready to head home yet anyway. Since she was already here, a little browsing sounded good.Whenever she wandered into a luxury mall, she inevitably ended up drifting toward the Fenwick & York counter, checking how her own designs looked on display.The Piano line had become F&Y's signature collection at this point.The black-and-white diamonds were cut with a patented technique to maximize their brilliance, paired with an upgraded invisible-setting method that hid the prongs entirely, pushing the aesthetic further than anything else on the market.She'd developed five distinct piece

She'd been played.Eleanor turned to leave. Tyler blocked her."You're already here why leave now?"Beside him, the guy who'd lost the bet chimed in too."Exactly. The second you heard he was drunk, you came running like a good little dog. If I'd known she had no spine at all, I wouldn't have wasted money betting Tyler on this."The speaker's name was Marcus Webb Eleanor didn't recognize him."Told you our boy Julian's got it like that. Women just throw themselves at him. Even the washed-up ones."Tyler said it while looking straight at Eleanor.The room was dim, but the fury on her face still came through loud and clear.The full story clicked together Julian had taken Cassandra out to dinner, gotten a call from Tyler after, and ended up here at Midnight Republic together. Marcus, knowing about the divorce filing, had turned the whole thing into a drinking game halfway through betting Tyler couldn't actually get Eleanor to show up, loser drinks the entire whiskey tower."Sit down. No

Julian lay collapsed on the floor.Pale, features twisted, drenched in sweat, barely conscious."Julian!"Eleanor rushed to pull him upright. He didn't respond, no matter how many times she called his name.She called an ambulance immediately rush hour meant at least a thirty-minute wait.Rather than waste that time, she got him up and moving, out of the office, and ran straight into Cassandra in the hallway.Cassandra's expression darkened the second she saw Eleanor bracing Julian's weight.That flicker lasted about a second before she registered something was genuinely wrong."What happened to him?""His stomach. He's in serious pain.""How does it just get this bad out of nowhere?!"Eleanor didn't bother dignifying that with a response.This was exactly why. He'd eaten Sichuan food with Cassandra. His stomach never had a chance.Too drained to argue the point, Eleanor guided him toward the elevator only to find a maintenance sign posted across it.The executive suite sat on the top

"This won't work... take a look, let's go back to the original version."Cassandra stood over Eleanor's desk, issuing orders.New desk, new department.Eleanor was no longer Julian's secretary. She'd been reassigned to Cross Group's design team.Under Cassandra.Whether this had been Cassandra's idea or Julian's, Eleanor genuinely couldn't say.She'd written a resignation letter. She hadn't submitted it.The last time she'd raised the subject with Julian, he'd shut it down flat, and she'd walked away without a counter.Her whole tenure at Cross Group had one condition attached she'd stay, and in exchange Lauren stayed out of trouble. If she quit now, there was a strong chance Julian would simply refuse the whole arrangement.Eleanor had her own hesitation too. She didn't want to work under Cassandra.But she wasn't going to hand Cassandra the satisfaction of watching her run either.In the end, the resignation stayed in her drawer, unsigned.True to form, Eleanor's first day in design