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 office was hummed with the usual drone of clicking keyboards and low-level chatter when a voice sliced through the air—sharp, familiar, and dripping with a confidence that made my skin crawl.


I froze, a chill racing down my spine. The entire floor went silent as heads snapped up toward the entrance.


"Bella?!" Ava gasped, her eyes wide with shock.


"Oh my God, Bella... you're actually here?" Tina added, her voice trailing off in disbelief.


 After going AWOL for over a week, she had practically become a ghost story in the breakroom. But here she was, standing in the center of the office like she owned the square footage. She looked different—calculatedly so. She had a sharp new haircut that framed her face and a radiant glow to her skin that suggested her "sick leave" had been spent in a spa rather than a hospital bed.


Chapter 81 - ~ 81