Semua Bab My Billionaire Ex-husband Won't Call It Quit: Bab 41 - Bab 48

Coleman Children's Hospital – 10:08 AM Michael's Italian loafers clicked too loud against the pediatric ward's cheerful murals—cartoon animals holding balloons, rainbows arcing across blue skies, an artificial brightness that contrasted sharply with the clinical efficiency of the nurses and the antiseptic smell that no amount of air freshener could disguise. The Coleman Children's Hospital—funded by his "charitable" foundation, which Maria now understood was just another tax shelter according to the ledger—was Michael's pride and joy, a monument to public benevolence that masked private calculation.He walked half a step ahead of her as always, his bespoke suit setting him apart from the worried parents in the waiting area. The Coleman wing was reserved for neurological disorders—conditions that fascinated Michael with their complexity and their potential for manipulation. Maria followed in his wake, her hand resting protectively on Oliver's shoulder as their son shuffled alongside,

Lane International Office – 6:15 PM Sally slammed the tabloid on my desk with enough force to send my coffee sloshing over the rim of the mug, dark liquid seeping into quarterly projections that suddenly seemed insignificant. The headline screamed in lurid yellow against a black background:"RECONCILED? Disgraced Billionaire Coleman Shares Tender Moment With Ex-Wife & Secret Love Child"The photo beneath showed it all in high-definition clarity—Griffin's curious face peering around my leg, my protective stance with one arm extended backward to shield him, Michael's expression perfectly calibrated to suggest remorse and longing rather than the calculation I'd witnessed. A family tableau for strangers to consume with their morning coffee, a narrative crafted from a three-second encounter in a hospital hallway.The perfect lie."He tipped off the paparazzi," Sally growled, pacing the length of my office with the restless energy that had driven our company through its darkest days. "Tha

Coleman Children's Hospital – 10:22 AM Michael's Rolex cracked against the pristine white tile as hospital security pinned him, the sound echoing through the pediatric wing where only moments earlier he'd been shouting loud enough to send nurses scrambling for panic buttons. The gold watch—a $38,000 Cosmograph Daytona he'd bought to celebrate Coleman Corp's IPO—spiderwebbed across its face, time literally stopping at the moment his control shattered completely."You're making a mistake!" he snarled, spittle flying as two security guards twice his size struggled to restrain him, their faces grimly professional despite the spectacle of subduing one of the city's most powerful men. "I own this hospital! Do you know who I am? One call and you'll be working mall security by nightfall!"Children and parents pressed against the walls of the corridor, wide-eyed witnesses to the unraveling of Michael Coleman, the man whose name adorned the building's facade—whose charitable foundation had fu

Coleman Manor Ruins – Midnight The flames devoured Michael's childhood home with the same hunger he'd once reserved for me—insatiable, indiscriminate, consuming everything in their path with a primal roar that drowned out the distant wail of too-late sirens. The fire painted the midnight sky in furious oranges and vengeful reds, visible for miles across the manicured landscape of Connecticut old money where the Coleman family had planted their flag generations before Michael was born.Firefighters stood idle at the perimeter of the estate, their trucks parked at strategic intervals that created the illusion of response without action. The chief—a square-jawed man with thirty years of service patches on his jacket—had given the order to "secure the area and prevent spread" rather than "extinguish," a technical distinction that would provide plausible deniability in the morning's inevitable investigation.His daughter went to school with Griffin. Her college tuition had been anonymous