He threw money on the bed after our one-night stand.
I threw it back in his face at his own inauguration.
By sundown, we were engaged. By the week's end — married.
Franklin Flemington needed a wife to secure his empire. I needed a miracle to save my family. For two years, we played our parts flawlessly — the golden couple the whole city envied.
Behind closed doors, I was invisible to him.
When the two years were up, I handed him divorce papers without blinking.
He stared at me like I'd lost my mind. "I've given you everything a husband should. What more do you want from me, Octavia?"
I smiled, signed my name, and walked out.
I thought that was the end. I thought I'd finally won.
I forgot one thing — Franklin Flemington has never lost anything in his life. And he has no intention of starting with me.
Game on.

The following morning, Octavia and I were seated in the large dining hall. The silence between us was a suffocating weight that even the aromatic scent of expensive coffee couldn't cut through.


I kept my eyes fixed on the tablet in front of me, scrolling through market reports. The stock prices for the Flemington Group remained volatile—a constant, pulsing reminder of the "scandal shot" that had nearly dismantled my life's work.


I looked up, my gaze landing on Octavia. She was the woman I was being forced to share my life with for the next two years. I watched her, lost in thought. She clearly felt my stare; she buried her face in her meal, refusing to meet my eyes until, finally, she snapped. She looked up, holding my gaze with a defiant edge.


"My mother called this morning," she said. Her voice cut through the quiet like a blade.


I didn't answer immediately. My thumb hovered over a fluctuating graph on the screen.


Chapter 12 - ~ 12