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.

We settled in to watch Titanic, the soft blue glow of Octavia's laptop screen casting flickering shadows across the hospital room walls. I gently guided her head to rest on my shoulder, her hair brushing my cheek like silk. The laptop balanced carefully on our thighs, warm from the running movie, while the faint hum of the air conditioner and distant hallway footsteps reminded us we weren't truly alone. Yet in that moment, the world outside the ward faded. It was just us, wrapped in the quiet intimacy of shared silence and a story that felt heavier than fiction.


"How many times have you watched this movie before?" Octavia asked, glancing up at me with those bright, curious eyes that still managed to steal my breath.


"Many times—enough for me to know exactly how it ends," I shrugged, keeping my tone light.


"That's not the answer I was looking for," she said, frowning in that adorable, stubborn way that made my chest tighten.


Chapter 129 - ~ 129