Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 71 - Chapitre 80

By morning, it was everywhere. I didn’t need anyone to tell me. The moment I stepped into my study and turned on the screen, the headlines were already there… waiting. Within a few hours, they multiplied faster than they could be contained. Every platform, every outlet featured the same clip. Different headlines, different angles, but the same moment. Claire’s hand striking Eva. Cut cleanly, and repeated endlessly. I watched it once. Then again. Then a third time. Each time I watched it was slower and more deliberate than the last. Not because I didn’t understand what I was looking at, but because I understood exactly what had been removed. The beginning. The provocation; Eva’s initial slap. The truth. My jaw tightened slightly as I watched. The clip being released at this particular time, was an efficient scheme. Very precise, very intentional. A knock sounded at the door, snapping me out of my thoughts, before it opened. Eva walked in without

Margot’s office door was already open when I arrived. She didn’t look up immediately, because her attention was fixed on the screen in front of her. “Close the door,” she said the moment she heard me enter. I did. The click echoed a little too loudly in the quiet room. “What happened?” I asked. Margot finally looked at me. Her expression was controlled, but there was something beneath it. Annoyance. Sharp and focused. “They’ve escalated,” she said. “Who?” She didn’t answer directly. Instead, she turned her laptop toward me. “Read.” I stepped closer and looked into the laptop. My eyes moved over the statement. The first thing I noticed was how clean it was. Polished, and carefully worded. Every sentence was deliberate and intentional. Meant to have massive effect. “Ms. Eva Sterling is currently navigating an extremely difficult personal situation with grace and restraint.” My jaw tightened slightly as I read. “Despite recent events, she rema

The courtroom felt different when Margot and I walked in that morning. Not louder, not quieter. Just… final. Because this would be my last day battling Lucian in court. My last day being a spectacle. Today would either end in triumph, or defeat. I the way conversations softened instead of stopped as Margot and I walked. The way people looked at me—not with outright judgment anymore, but with something more that resembled curiosity. They weren’t sure what to think of me now. Good. I walked past them without slowing, without acknowledging the cameras, the whispers, the weight of attention that had followed me for weeks. But today, it didn’t press down on me the same way anymore. It didn’t feel suffocating. Today, it felt distant. Like something I had already survived. Margot’s files were arranged neatly on our table when we reached it. Margot glanced at me briefly as we took our seats. “We’re on time,” she confirmed. Across the room, Victoria Merlyn s

I remained standing exactly where she had left me. The noise around the courthouse hadn’t stopped—it never did—but it had shifted. The attention had followed her, like it always did. Cameras, voices, and movement pulled in her direction until there was nothing left around me but fragments of what had just happened. Someone said my name a couple times. I didn’t respond. My gaze remained fixed on the space where the car had disappeared, long after it was gone. She hadn’t looked back. Not even once. “Mr. Dhark.” I finally turned slightly. One of the attorneys approached me, careful, measured. “We should get ahead of the press cycle. The ruling is clean. Favorable. If we position it correctly—” “It’s handled,” I said. He paused, then nodded and stepped back back. Another voice came then— this time it was my assistant. “The PR team is ready.” She informed. “They’re drafting a statement. We can control the narrative before—” I didn’t let her finish. “Do what you

The house was quiet in a way it hadn’t been before. It felt… well, different. I walked slowly through the living room, followed by the sound of my heels clicking against the polished floor. My gaze moved over the interiors of the mansion with satisfaction. Nothing had changed physically. The furniture was exactly where it had always been. The lighting, the arrangement, the careful balance of space and design remained untouched. And yet, it felt lighter. I paused near the center of the sitting room, allowing my fingers to brush lightly against the back of a chair as a thought settled perfectly in my mind. Claire was gone. Gone. I felt a smile tugging at my lips. When the urge to smile became too strong, I let out a satisfied grin. “It suits the place,” I murmured to myself. “Less… sentimental.” My gaze shifted toward the hallway leading into the house. For a moment, I considered going upstairs. But I stopped myself. There was no need to rush into sp