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.

 It's a slow-acting toxin that compromises your judgment until you're doing things you never thought yourself capable of—like stalking your own wife across the city.


Back in the boardroom, I hadn't heard a single word the JeffTech directors were saying.


 My entire world had narrowed down to the two of them: Octavia and Clinton. Every stolen glance they exchanged felt like a physical blow. I should have looked away; I should have maintained my dignity. But the jealousy was a living thing in my chest, clawing to get out.


Tracing them to that restaurant had only made it worse.


 Watching them sit together, looking for all the world like they were on a date, broke something inside me.


 And the way Octavia looked at me when I interrupted? There was no lingering affection there. There was no "hidden love" waiting to be rekindled. There was only raw, jagged rage.


My grandfather was wrong. The love hadn't just faded; I had smothered it.


Chapter 65 - ~ 65