Countdown to My Divorce

Rachel’s mood was already bad, and running into Howard made it worse. She could feel her frustration rising.

Her usually calm eyes narrowed with irritation. “Let go of me, or call for help.”

“Are you going to call your husband?” Howard laughed mockingly as he tilted his head toward the room, his eyes following the scene inside. “But he seems pretty busy.”

His words cut deep. What seemed like a harmless joke felt like a knife twisting in Rachel’s heart.

She looked inside, her stomach tightening as she saw Samantha leaning against William’s shoulder, her cheeks flushed. William, with a drink in his hand, was laughing and chatting with ane and the others, completely relaxed. It was a version of him Rachel had never seen before.

No wonder Zane had said earlier that everything felt too stiff whenever she was around. He wanted to have fun but had to hold back because of her presence.

Rachel’s lips curled into a bitter smile. She really was a bother, wasn’t she?

Howard was a madman, and the patriarch of his family was a retired military officer. In Yurelia City, only the Lewis family could rival the Ziegler family in terms of power. Rachel had once been under William’s protection, and while Howard still had some respect for him, things were different now.

She had no choice but to outsmart him.

Furrowing her brow, she asked, “What do you want, exactly?”

“Nothing much. You embarrassed me back in college. How about you make it up to me with a drink? A little apology for all that humiliation.”

Howard tried to mimic sign language by making hand gestures to Rachel, but after a few moments of awkwardly flailing his hands, he seemed frustrated. “Damn, your ears are really a pain in the ass!”

At that moment, a waiter passed by with a tray of drinks. Howard grabbed two glasses, keeping one for himself. He raised the other toward Rachel, his eyes challenging.

“Drink this, and we’ll call it even. How about it?”

Rachel hesitated, but her only thought now was to leave. This place, this situation–she just wanted to get away. Besides, the drinks had been brought over by a waiter, so Howard probably hadn’t known Ra ould be here.

She picked up the glass. “I hope you keep your word.”

11

Howard’s grin widened. “Yeah, drink up and you

can go.”

downed the drink quickly, then set the empty glass back on the

smiled and moved aside, gesturing for her to pass.

she could take another, her body suddenly

something in the

and ran for the door desperate to get out. But before she could even make it, Howard grabbed her

be right across from William. He’ll

jelly–completely powerless. She tried to

Chapter 12

+25 BONUS

“L–let go of me!”

moment he turned, Rachel caught sight of William, who was clinking glasses with Samantha. Her ears were tinted pink and her face was radiant with

flooded Rachel as she closed her eyes, her heart feeling as though it was being tightly squeezed,

the door to the private room opened, Howard turned to the waiter

waiter nodded frantically. “Yes,

lips. He shoved her onto a leather couch as the door slowly swung shut behind them. Her desperate gaze locked onto that narrowing sliver of light–her last hope–until it vanished with

raked over her with predatory

the kind of woman who made people do a double–take when they saw her. It wasn’t just the elegant symmetry of her features; every inch of her was calculated perfection, from

met all kinds of beautiful women, but none like her. She seemed cold and distant, like she didn’t care about anything. Yet, there was something about her–something fierce underneath, like

dark with

be

male voice cut through the air behind him: “Have you really sunk so low as to

momentarily before

you become so

room. Can’t afford a hotel room, Mr. Ziegler? Is this where you conduct your business now? In a place

it to you?” He glance you want her for yourself? But

pale face and

to the couch, lit a cigarette, and took a slow drag. “You’ve got one minute. Pull up your

can threaten me? Who

“Touch her, and it’ll be all over the headlines tomorrow. How do

out his cigarette and

eyes, but then he zipped his pants and grabbed his

him? Aren’t you afraid the Lewis family