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CORA
Our getaway to the Hamptons became the benchmark of happiness against which I’d measure everything that came after. On this new scale, my previous life could no longer exist.
If I’d started the tides of change, Axel was helping them continue to rise. For every step forward, my anxiety tried to tug me two steps backward. But Axel was there to hug the anxiety away. To smooth my hair, call mecowgirl, and remind me that I could fucking do this. The birth control delivery had been a warning shot. More was coming—I just didn’t know what. Or when. I was up against a ticking timebomb.
I laid low. I used Axel’s penthouse as my safe space, and only went out to work or the Hamptons house with Axel. He understood my need for privacy. I didn’t want even one random photo to circulate; I could have no public outings with Axel. I planned to execute a controlled demolition of my life, and any disturbances from outside forces—like the media—threatened to cause an avalanche.
I barely saw my father in the week or two after our confrontation in his office. If he was content to ignore me and look away, then so was I. I worked remotely as often as possible. I needed more time to get my ducks in a row. Information from different legal offices had started to come in. Axel and I pored over the options together, treating it almost like a fun project as opposed to the single most important factor to my future freedom. Anything to stave off the encroaching sense of doom was welcome, even if it meant Axel and I creating catchy jingles out of the lawyers’ last names.
Two Fridays after the Hamptons getaway, I was set up in Axel’s breakfast nook—my new favorite spot to work—with Axel at the other end of the table. We’d become a power couple in no time, opting to work side-by-side from the penthouse when we could, pausing for grilled cheese sandwiches that Axel prepared himself, lingering over cups of steaming coffee when our inboxes got too overwhelming.
How could I be living a fantasy life alongside the worst and most tumultuous chapter yet? It didn’t make sense. All I could do was continue forward.
“You ready for more coffee, sweet cheeks?” Axel lifted a brow as he rose from his laptop at the other end of the table.
“Always.” I sent him a cool smile, ignoring the three new messages popping up from my assistant.
TATIANA: Eli just stopped into the office and was asking for you.
TATIANA: He says you guys had a meeting, but I’m not seeing it on the calendar. He seems impatient.
TATIANA: Where should I send him?
I waited until Axel had returned with two freshly filled mugs of hazelnut coffee—our personal favorite—and mulled over my response. I was hours, if not minutes, away from sending an initial payment over to a new divorce lawyer. This cat would be clawing its way out of the bag soon enough. Maybe I could loosen the drawstrings with Tatiana. Just to see how it felt.
CORA: Please don’t send him anywhere. I’m not speaking to him currently.
I stared at my message so long the letters began to run together.
CORA: Please keep this quiet. I haven’t announced yet but I’m seeking a divorce.
Air whooshed out of me. She needed to know, so we could avoid future conversations like these. Axel looked up from his computer.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. I just told my assistant I’m filing for divorce.”
Tenderness flooded Axel’s face, and he rose from his end of the table again and came over to me, wrapping me in his big, safe embrace. There was no other place I wanted to be, other than smashed up against his chest, inhaling his manly scent. In his arms, everything felt right.
When he pulled away, I said, “Thank you for that. You always know when I need a hug.”
“I’m always ready to give them.” He tugged at my earlobe before heading back to his computer.
We worked in companionable silence for a while. In midafternoon, stirrings at the front door told us that Damian and Trace had arrived. They showed up in the kitchen a moment later, their clean-as-a-whistle business presentation a stark contrast to Axel’s and my work-from-home loungewear.
“What’s new, guys?” Axel headed for his brothers, holding up his hand for a high five from each. Trace couldn’t even muster a smile as he offered up his palm.
“There’s some news,” Damian said with a sigh, setting his briefcase on the big island before he slid off his suit coat.
“I don’t like what I’m seeing right here,” Axel said, gesturing toward Trace’s face. “What the fuck is it? Before I have a heart attack.”
Trace shook his head, his gaze stuck on the floor. His jaw flexed repeatedly as he rested his hands on his hips. “I just don’t fucking understand.”
“Understand what?” Axel demanded.
Trace studied Axel’s face for a moment before he spoke, his eyes holding something unreadable. “We lost our biggest client today.”
Axel didn’t move, didn’t breathe, didn’t even react for what felt like a full minute. Then he finally blinked. “What?”
