جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 5

"I want a divorce, Vivian. Name your price."Alexander spoke calmly, standing near the study window with one hand in his pocket, he didn't raise his voice or look away. He simply waited for my answer.I stared at him, I'd only been in this house for a short time, and I was still learning my way around. Now, a man in an expensive suit was telling me our marriage was over.I knew his face. Tall, dark hair, gray eyes, and a jaw that seemed permanently tense, the novel had described him as cold. Seeing him in person, I thought he also looked tired.He seemed to be waiting for me to cry, his stiff shoulders and guarded expression suggested he'd prepared himself for tears and shouting. Perhaps he'd even rehearsed what to say when I begged him to reconsider but I had no intention of begging.I was scared and confused, but beneath it all was one certainty….I'd seen this scene before.I'd died, I wouldn't go into the details, I'd worked hard my entire life and still had very little to show for

Three days later, Natalie dropped a stack of papers on my kitchen table."Homework," she announced.I counted twenty-two pages of market reports, price lists, and fabric suppliers, all covered in her red-ink notes."You expect me to read all this?""I expect you to answer three questions. Who will buy your clothes? How much will they pay? And why should they buy from you instead of a brand that's been around for twenty years?"I opened my mouth, then closed it again.Natalie raised an eyebrow. "Exactly. That's why we're not ordering fabric yet."I stayed up until two in the morning reading every page. I got highlighter on my fingers and spilled tea on page nine, I wrote my answers on a notepad, crossed them out, and started again. My first answer to the third question had been because I have good taste.I stared at it for a long time before tearing off the page.The next day, I handed Natalie a single sheet of paper, she read it standing up, then went through it again before finally s

Alexander was sitting at the kitchen table when I came downstairs the next morning. A thick folder lay in front of him, its contents looking suspiciously familiar."Sit down," he said. "I want to show you something."I poured myself a cup of coffee before taking the seat opposite him."My financial team reviewed your business plan," he explained. "I asked them to look into it. They believe it has potential, so we're prepared to invest two million dollars. My lawyers will handle the contracts, and you can focus on the designs."I opened the folder and read through the proposal by the fourth page, I understood exactly what he was offering."Sixty percent?" I asked, looking up."It's standard.""Perhaps for you." I turned back to the document. "Monthly reports to your office, your team's approval for orders over fifty thousand dollars, and a board member of your choosing. This isn't an investment, Alexander. You're putting yourself in control of my company."His fingers stopped tapping a