Semua Bab My Billionaire Ex-husband Won't Call It Quit: Bab 31 - Bab 40

Coleman Corporation – Next MorningMichael's fist hit the mahogany desk hard enough to rattle the monitors displaying the morning's market reports. Red numbers flashed across the screens, Coleman stock down three points already."What do you mean Titan Industries pulled out?" His voice was dangerously soft, at odds with the vein throbbing at his temple.Rachel shrank back, clutching her tablet like a shield. Even after fifteen years as his right hand, she still flinched when his temper flared. "They signed with Lane International an hour ago. Their CEO cited 'ethical concerns.'""Ethical?" Michael's laugh was venomous, scraping across the room. "Alexandra's little press stunt has them running scared of bad publicity."He stalked to the window, adjusting his cufflinks with precise, controlled movements that betrayed his fury. The Coleman Tower afforded a perfect view of Lane International's sleek headquarters across the financial district. A decade newer, a shade taller. Alex had made

Maria's fork clattered against her plate loud enough to make their youngest daughter flinch. Claire, twelve years old and already hypersensitive to the atmospheric pressure changes that preceded her parents' storms, hunched her shoulders and fixed her gaze on the uneaten salmon on her plate. The dining room's chandelier cast sharp shadows across the table, highlighting the lines of tension etched into everyone's faces. "You've been staring at that phone for twenty minutes," Maria hissed, her voice low but edged with the sharpness of a blade that had been sharpened too many times. Michael didn't look up from the Lane International stock ticker, the blue glow illuminating the angles of his face. The stock had risen another eight percent since opening bell. "Business," he replied, his voice flat and automatic, a recording he'd played so many times it had lost all meaning. "Bullshit." Maria slammed her wine glass down, ruby liquid sloshing onto the white tablecloth like blood seeping t

Alex POV Lane International Boardroom – High Noon The air conditioning couldn't combat the sweat beading on Richard Maxwell's brow as he slid the document toward me across the polished expanse of our conference table. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, Manhattan shimmered in the midday heat, a concrete and glass mirage that seemed to undulate in the September humidity. I could see our company logo reflected in the windows of the building opposite—strong, clean lines forming an 'L' that represented everything I'd built from the ashes of my previous life. "Alex... the board feels this merger makes strategic sense." Maxwell's voice carried the strained neutrality of a hostage reading a prepared statement. Though he'd been with Lane International since its inception—had been one of the few who believed in me when every door in the business world mysteriously slammed shut—his eyes couldn't quite meet mine now. Behind him, the remaining board members sat in various postures of disc

Alex's Penthouse – 11:18 PM The Connecticut safe house had been a diversion. After confirming we weren't followed, James had driven Griffin and me back to Manhattan, to my penthouse in a building with security that rivaled most government installations. Six hours of emergency meetings had followed—with my legal team, with Sally and the executive committee, with my brother Elliott via secure video link from Singapore.The hot shower pounded against my shoulders, washing away some of the day's tension as steam clouded the marble bathroom. I leaned my forehead against the cool tile, allowing myself exactly sixty seconds of weakness—of fear, of rage, of the bone-deep exhaustion that came from knowing this battle with Michael would never truly end.Sixty seconds. Then I straightened, shut off the water, and wrapped myself in a robe. Griffin had fallen asleep hours ago, exhausted from what he believed had been an exciting adventure, not understanding the genuine danger that had precipitat

Coleman Penthouse – 3:17 AM Maria's silk robe whispered against her legs as she crept into Michael's private study, the sound barely audible over the hum of the climate control system that kept the penthouse at a perfect 68 degrees year-round. The door had closed behind her with a soft click that nevertheless seemed to echo through the sleeping apartment like a gunshot. She paused, listening for movement, for Michael's footsteps, for any sign that her midnight reconnaissance had been detected.Nothing. Just the distant drone of late-night Manhattan traffic forty stories below and the steady tick of the antique grandfather clock in the foyer—a wedding gift from Michael's parents, who had looked at her throughout the ceremony with thinly veiled disapproval. Old money meeting new. Tradition meeting calculation.The study smelled of Michael—his sandalwood cologne, the leather of his custom chairs, the faint metallic tang of ambition that seemed to seep from his pores. His desk was immac