Chapter 95
No.1
Elisa's boots made absolutely no sound against the thick, plush carpet of the VIP wing.
She held the heavy manila envelope in her right hand. Her grip was relaxed, casual, completely devoid of the nervous tension that used to plague her around August.
She reached the door of suite 412. She did not look through the glass. The people inside that room were no longer human beings to her; they were just obstacles to be removed.
She raised her hand to knock.
Before her knuckles touched the wood, the door handle clicked. The heavy door swung inward.
August stepped out into the hallway. He was holding his cell phone to his ear, his brow furrowed in annoyance as he prepared to take a business call away from Allena's constant chatter.
He turned his head and practically walked straight into Elisa.
August physically jumped. He stumbled back half a step.
No.2
He looked at her standing in the shadows of the corridor. His eyes immediately narrowed, a defensive, aggressive wall slamming down over his features.
"What are you doing here?" August hissed,keeping his voice low so Allena wouldn't hear. "Are you stalking us now? Haven't you caused enough damage for one night?"
Elisa did not react to the insult. She just looked at him.
Her black eyes were completely hollow. They were two bottomless, dead wells. There was no anger,no hurt, no defiance. She looked at him the exact same way she would look at a broken chair or a stain on the wall.
August felt a sudden, icy chill crawl up his spine.The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He opened his mouth to hurl another insult, but the words died in his throat. Her absolute, terrifying apathy paralyzed him.
Elisa raised her right hand. She slapped the heavy manila envelope flat against the center of August's chest.
The physical impact wasn't hard, but it carried a crushing psychological weight.
August instinctively brought his hand up and caught the envelope before it fell. He looked down at the Vance Law Firm crest, then back up at her face. His brow furrowed in genuine confusion.
No.3
"What is this?" August asked.
"Those are the final divorce papers," Elisa said. Her voice was perfectly flat, a monotone hum that lacked any human inflection. "Drafted in
accordance with the seven-year expiration clause of our prenuptial agreement."
The words hit August like a physical blow to the head.
His pupils violently contracted. His heart physically skipped a beat, stuttering in his chest.
He had always assumed her threats of divorce were just dramatic leverage. He thought she was throwing tantrums to get his attention, to force him to drop Allena. But the physical weight of the legal document in his hand, combined with the dead look in her eyes, triggered a sudden, massive wave of panic.
August quickly masked the panic with a sneer of arrogant mockery.
"Is that right?" August scoffed, tapping the envelope against his palm. "Have you finally done the math? Let me guess. You want half the liquid assets and the Hamptons house to go away quietly?"
No.4
Elisa's lips curved into a microscopic, razor-sharp smile.
"Read clause four, August," Elisa said softly. "I am waiving all rights to alimony. I don't want a single penny of your money. I just want you to sign the paper and get the hell out of my life."
The insult was surgical. It bypassed August's armor and stabbed directly into his fragile ego. She wasn't extorting him. She was discarding him. She was treating his billions as if they were toxic waste.
August's face flushed a dark, angry red. His hand gripped the envelope so tightly the thick paper crumpled.
"You think you can just walk away?" August snarled,leaning into her space, trying to use his physical size to intimidate her. "If you sign this, you lose the Chambers name. You lose the protection. You go back to being a nobody."
Elisa did not step back. She leaned forward,closing the distance until she could smell the stale coffee on his breath.
"Mr. Chambers," Elisa whispered,her voice dripping with absolute, freezing disdain. "Your name and your protection are garbage to me."
She tilted her head, her eyes flicking toward the partially open door of the hospital room.
No.5
"Keep your money," Elisa said,her tone laced with toxic pity. "You are going to need it to buy band-aids for your mistress's bastard brother. You two are truly a match made in hell."
August's face went completely white. The precision of the insult, the absolute lack of jealousy,broke his brain. He raised the envelope, his mouth opening to scream at her.
Elisa cut him off. She raised her left wrist and tapped the glass face of her watch.
"You have twenty-four hours to have your legal team review the terms," Elisa stated, her voice returning to a brisk, businesslike clip."I expect you
at the Vance Law Firm at ten o'clock tomorrow morning.Do not be late."
She didn't wait for his response. She turned on her heel. Her spine was perfectly straight, her shoulders pulled back. She walked down the hallway with the commanding, untouchable stride of a queen leaving a conquered territory.
August stood frozen outside the door.
He watched her walk away. The manila envelope in his hand suddenly felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. A sickening,hollow void opened up in his chest, as if a vital organ had just been surgically removed without anesthesia.
No.6
He took a half-step forward. He opened his mouth to call her name, to demand she come back.
His throat was completely dry. No sound came out."August?"
The door to suite 412 opened wider. Allena poked her headout. Her makeup was perfectly retouched.She looked at August's pale face, then glanced down the empty hallway.
"Who were you talking to?" Allena asked,her voice high and whiny. "Why aren't you coming back inside? Tate wants to show you his game."
August snapped his head toward her. He looked at Allena's face. For a split second, the whining tone grated against his eardrums like nails on a chalkboard. A violent surge of irritation flared in his chest.
He forced it down. He cleared his throat and tucked the crumpled envelope under his arm.
"It was nobody," August muttered. He turned and walked back into the room, the heavy door clicking shut behind him.
At the end of the hall, Elisa pressed the button for the elevator. She looked at her reflection in the polished metal doors.
No.7
She let out a long, slow exhale. The invisible chains that had choked her for seven years were finally broken.
She had absolutely no idea that the envelope August was holding contained a bomb.