LOGINLila’s POVI tapped out the message fast, smirking at my phone screen.“Hey Tessa, it’s Lila. I know things have been horrible between us. I was wrong. Completely. Can we meet? I want to apologize in person and offer whatever help you need with the hotel mess. Family should stick together. Let me make it right.”I hit send, then blocked and unblocked her number so it would look fresh. Julian was still pacing downstairs like a caged animal. I didn’t care. Let him stay desperate. I needed Tessa to bite first.My phone buzzed almost immediately. Tessa.“What game is this, Lila? After cheating with my husband.”I grinned and typed back. “No game. I’m done fighting. Julian’s losing it and I see how wrong we both were. Lunch tomorrow? My treat. Please.”Three dots. Then: “One hour. Public place. Don’t waste my time. If you bring Julian along with you, I'll have you both arrested for stalking and luring.”“I swear, Tessa. Julian doesn’t know about this.She replied almost immediately: “Alrig
CHAPTER 34: Julian’s PanicJulian’s POVI slammed my laptop shut so hard the screen cracked. “What the hell do you mean it’s gone? The article. The photos. All of it—deleted!”My assistant’s voice trembled over the speaker. “Sir, every link is dead. Sites are showing 404 errors. Even the cached versions got wiped. Whoever did this has serious pull.”I paced the living room, phone gripped tight. “Find out who. Now. I want names.”Lila slipped in wearing nothing but my silk robe, hair tousled like she’d just rolled out of bed. She slid her arms around my waist from behind. “Julian, baby, come back to bed. Let me help you forget all this stress.”I shoved her off, harder than I meant to. “Not now, Lila. Tessa’s article vanished. Someone’s shielding her. Felix? Has to be that bastard.”Lila’s face twisted. “Again with Tessa? She’s done with you. Move on.”“Move on?” I laughed, sharp and ugly. “She’s mine. She was always mine. I watched her for through those feeds. Every tear, every meetin
CHAPTER 33: Rules of the HouseTessa’s POVThe heavy doors of Felix’s estate slammed shut behind us. I kicked off my heels right there, not caring where they landed. My blood was still boiling from those cameras. Fourteen months. The bastard had been watching me for fourteen months.“Markus, double the perimeter tonight,” Felix barked into his phone as we walked. He didn’t even glance at me yet, but his free hand stayed glued to the small of my back, steering me like I might vanish if he let go. “No one in or out without my direct approval. And get the night crew on the roof access points. I want thermal scans every hour.”I rolled my eyes and pulled away, heading straight for the wide staircase. “Felix, we just spent three hours tearing apart my office. I’m tired. Can we skip the war room briefing until morning?”“No.” His voice cracked. He ended the call and caught up in two strides, grabbing my wrist not hard, but firm enough that I stopped. “We do this now. Upstairs. My study.”I y
Felix’s POVI watched Tessa stand there in the foyer, her chin up like she owned the damn fortress already. Good. That fire was exactly why I’d brought her here. No more running around the city like a target.“Felix, I meant what I said,” she told me, voice sharp. “I’m not hiding forever. I have meetings. I have a company to run. Julian doesn’t get to dictate my schedule.”I crossed the room in three strides and stopped right in front of her. “You think I’m locking you in a cage? Wrong. I’m giving you the high ground. But first, we make sure there are no more surprises.”She narrowed her eyes. “What kind of surprises?”“The kind that end up in leaked photos. The kind that make investors call you at midnight screaming. We’re sweeping every place you’ve been. Starting with your office at the Crown.”Tessa laughed once, short and bitter. “My office? Julian hasn’t been inside it in months. I changed the locks myself.”“People like Julian don’t need keys,” I said. I pulled out my phone and
"Julian, I don’t care about your excuses," I snapped, my voice cold enough to freeze the air inside the armored SUV. "Do not call this phone again."I ended the call and shoved the device into my purse before he could utter another pathetic word. My hand trembled not from fear, but from the adrenaline of finally cutting the last frayed thread of my old life.Felix sat beside me, his gaze fixed on the road ahead. He hadn’t said a word while I spoke to Julian. He didn’t reach out to soothe me, either. He simply allowed me the space to be lethal."He’s terrified," Felix said, his voice flat, devoid of sympathy. "He knows the moment he loses control of the narrative, he loses his leverage.""He doesn't have any," I replied, looking out the window at the blurred city lights. "He’s a ghost haunting a house I’ve already burned down."The car didn’t slow down for the city’s residential districts. It surged forward, taking us to the outskirts where the concrete skyline finally gave way to dens
Chapter 30: The Ambush I walked out of Julian’s clinic. I did not look back.My phone buzzed immediately. I answered it."Are you looking at your screen?" Francesca asked. Her voice clipped fast and urgent."I am walking to my car. What is it?""Check your email. Now. I am sending extra security to the lobby."I opened my inbox. I clicked the top link. It redirected me to the city’s largest gossip publication.The headline screamed in bold text."The Widow of Crown Group: How Tessa Watson Bought Her Empire."Below the headline was a photograph. It was an intimate photo of me from my first year of marriage. Julian had taken it while I was changing in our bedroom.The leak was credited to an unknown entity—an anonymous source—but my instincts immediately pointed to one person. I suspected Julian. It felt exactly like his desperation weaponized into a smear campaign. The article claimed I manipulated wealthy men, used my marriage for funding, and blackmailed my way to the top."Tessa?"
CHAPTER SIXI decided to stay at home for the day as I searched online for meals I could prepare for Julian before he got home without so much stress. I needed to tell him about my condition. It'd be so cruel of me to leave this world without letting him know about this. He would blame himself for
CHAPTER FIVEJulian came in with Lila as usual. They were bickering like a young couple in love when they walked in.“Why are you staring at me like that?” Julian asked.She replied, “I’m trying to figure out why you stole my fries.”He frowned. “Your fries? You ordered extra. That’s relationship f
CHAPTER FOURI couldn’t see well. The door was blocking my view. The door only allowed me to see Lila. As I was about to nudge the door open to see the man, Lila’s face jerked upright and she saw me. She quickly pulled off the man and tossed him further into the room, out of my sight entirely. Her
CHAPTER THREEJulian’s words still hurt me deeply, so I hadn't told him about my terminal illness yet. Although he begged me to forgive him all through the night, he woke me up with breakfast in bed, a pancake with “I'm sorry” written with jam on it. Finally, I told him that it was fine and pushed







