“Victoria, stop him! Stop him!”
+25 BONUS
Chapter 20
His desperate shout jolted me back to reality.
“Ash, don’t!”
Norman looked down at me, his expression stubborn, his disapproval evident in his dark,
stormy eyes.
I took a deep breath, my gaze steady and emotionless as I looked at julian.
“You saved me once, and you hurt me too. After today, we’re even.”
Julian’s expression faltered for a moment, a flicker of hesitation crossing his face.
Norman gave a subtle nod to one of his bodyguards, who immediately stepped forward with the divorce papers.
He had come prepared from the very start.
“Sign it,” Norman commanded, his tone leaving no room for argument.
A pen was shoved into Julian’s hand as the bodyguard firmly pressed his shoulder, forcing him toward the table.
The divorce papers lay in front of him, but Julian’s hand froze, the pen hovering above the
page.
“Victoria, are you really going to divorce me?”
I looked at him, my gaze as distant and unyielding as time itself.
“Julian, I owe you nothing. Let’s part ways amicably. It’s the least we can for what we once had.”
Julian gritted his teeth and tried to push back from the table, but the bodyguard held him down with ease.
“Fine,” he spat bitterly, gripping the pen.
With a vindictive flourish, he scrawled his name across the paper.
“Listen carefully, Victoria–I, Julian Ford, never look back!”
I took the signed agreement and exhaled deeply, feeling the weight finally lifted from my chest.
“That’s perfect. Because neither do I.”
I carefully folded the handkerchief my mother had embroidered and tucked it into my pocket. Then, I bent down to pick up the shattered remains of the succulent.
Finally, I turned back for one last look at Julian.
“Make sure to remove my fingerprints from the door lock. And Averil, if you don’t want this
2/3
L
+25 BONUS
Chapter 20
to get ugly, I suggest you come clean about your theft.”
On the ride back, Norman held my hand tightly the entire time.
I glanced at his stormy expression, his face dark with anger, and felt a little guilty. “Ash, you don’t have to worry about me. I can handle it.
“Handle it?” Norman shifted suddenly, pinning me between his arms. His voice dropped low, heavy with frustration. “If I’d been a second later, were you really planning to take on Julian all by yourself? Violet, do you have any idea how terrified I was when I saw you grab that shard of porcelain?”
I froze, staring into his dark eyes, turbulent with emotion. They reminded me of a storm. raging over a black sea.
“Violet, you belong on a stage where the whole world can see you, not buried in dirt and chaos. Let me handle the darkness. You just stay in the light.”
The car entered a tunnel, and the world outside the window was suddenly cloaked in shadows. Before I could respond, Norman leaned down, capturing my lips in a forceful, consuming kiss.
