Chapter 25
Lumi
The car engine humd through the floorboards as we drove through central London. Outside, gray stone and wet umbrellas blurred past the windows. Inside, the air felt tight, heavy with an anticipation that made my chest constrict with every mile.
I gripped the steering wheel, my knuckles white. Beside in the passenger seat, Ren was a mountain of silence. He didn’t offer empty comfort.
He sat with his massive fra dominating the space, his dark eyes scanning the mirrors and the traffic with the precision of a predator tracking its borders.
My gaze slipped down to his right hand on his thigh. The clean white bandages Eleanor’s assistant had wound around his split knuckles contrasted sharply with the dark leather of his jacket.
My mind flashed back to the drawing of the smiling woman I had left on my hotel nightstand, and the acoustic song I had sent him in the dead of night.
He hadn’t ntioned the ssage this morning. He didn’t need to. The subtle softening at the corners of his eyes when he first looked at told everything.
"Take the next left," his deep voice broke the quiet. "It cuts past the main comrcial avenue. Less gridlock."
I nodded, flicking the indicator and turning into a narrower, cobblestone street. "You know London well for an outsider."
"I map cities when I need to move securely," he muttered, tracking a sedan behind us until it turned away.
"And I know the corporate sectors. Vance Logistics sits on a leased comrcial block near the old canal fronts. It’s a flashy building for a mid-level operation."
"Callum always loved flash," I said, the words tasting cold, stripped of the old ache. "He told image was everything. If investors think you own the sky, they won’t look too closely at the ground."
"A mistake for a man without a foundation," Ren rumbled, his jaw tightening. "He spends so much ti looking up that he doesn’t notice when soone starts digging up his dirt." A cold thrill ran down my spine. I didn’t understand what he ant but I didn’t let it disturb either.
Ten minutes later, I pulled the SUV into the private, underground garage beneath a glass high-rise.
The brass sign read Vance Developnt & Logistics Corp. My stomach flipped, but I forced my breathing to remain steady.
I cut the engine. The silence inside the car beca absolute.
I reached into the back, my fingers wrapping around the crisp edges of the legal envelope. When I turned, Ren was already unbuckling his seatbelt. He checked his phone and slid it back inside his jacket.
"Rember the deal," I whispered, pausing on the door handle. "I do the talking. I hand him the papers. You don’t intervene unless it becos physical, which it won’t be. I need him to see doing this, Ren. Not you."
He locked his dark eyes onto mine, his gaze carrying a heavy weight in the dim garage. He looked at my tight grip on the docunts, then nodded.
"I gave you my word, Lumi," he said, his voice dropping into a low rumble. "I stand at the door. I am a ghost. But if he steps within two feet of your space, the ghost becos a problem. Understand?"
"Understand," I breathed.
We stepped out together. The heavy slam of the car doors echoed through the concrete space like an opening volley. Walking toward the elevator bank, I kept my chin high and my shoulders squared, matching Ren’s unhurried strides.
The elevator ride to the penthouse suite was swift and silent. When the chro doors slid open, the bright scent of air conditioning and polished marble hit my senses. This was Callum’s kingdom.
The receptionist behind the glass desk, Clara, looked up. Her professional smile froze, her eyes widening in shock as she recognized .
"Mrs... Mrs. Reed?" she stamred, her gaze darting from my face to the massive, leather-jacket-clad figure behind . Ren’s presence made the sleek lobby feel instantly claustrophobic.
His jaw was a hard line, his hands tucked into his pockets, his posture radiating a silent authority that scread danger to any supernatural instinct in the room.
"Good morning, Clara," I said, my voice smooth, entirely devoid of my old tremor. "Is Callum in his office?" I could see another wace of shock when she heard respond to her.
"He... yes, he’s in a budget review with Miss Blake, but Mrs. Reed, you can’t just..."
"Thank you," I cut in, bypassing her before she could touch the intercom.
I marched past the desk, my boots clicking with a steady rhythm against the floorboards.
Ren followed, his heavy boots making a deeper sound against the stone. He didn’t look at the staff peering out from their glass cubicles; his eyes were fixed solely on the double oak doors at the end of the corridor.
When I reached the threshold, I didn’t knock. I grabbed the heavy brass handle, pushed it open with all my weight, and walked straight inside.
The office was sprawling, lined with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the gray London skyline. Callum sat behind his desk, a fountain pen in hand, looking over a financial ledger. Sienna leaned over his shoulder, a cup of coffee in her hand, her face still bearing a pink, swollen mark on her left cheek from my palm the day before.
The mont the door slamd against the wall, both of them snapped their heads up.
"What the hell is the aning of..." Callum started, his voice booming with alpha authority. The words died in his throat the second he saw .
His mouth hung open, his gaze shifting past my shoulder to Ren. True to his promise, Ren didn’t say a word. He didn’t lunge or growl.
He simply closed the heavy oak doors behind us, crossed his massive arms over his chest, and planted his boots firmly in front of the exit.
He beca an unyielding wall of iron, completely blocking the way out, his dark eyes fixed on Callum with pure contempt.
Sienna took a step back, her hand flying to her cheek as she shrank behind Callum’s chair, her eyes wide with terror.
"Lumi?" Callum stamred, his face turning an ugly red as his pride warred with the instinctive fear radiating from him at Ren’s presence. He tried to throw his shoulders back, gripping the edge of his desk.
"What are you doing here? How dare you walk into my office after the display you pulled in the park yesterday? And you brought this street dog with you?"
I didn’t answer. I didn’t flinch at the insult, because I knew the paper in my hand held more destructive power than any shouting match.
I walked straight up to his desk, stopping exactly two feet away, leaving a clear, respectful distance between us. I looked down at him, seeing the small, insecure creature hiding behind the expensive suit.
"Lumi, I am warning you," Callum hissed, his voice dropping into a cruel register as he tried to regain control.
"You are on my turf. You have no legal right to be here. One call to security and I will have your tattooed boyfriend thrown into a holding cell so fast..."
"Read it," I said, my voice cutting through his threats.
With a single movent, I raised the envelope and slamd it down onto the center of his desk, right over his financial ledger. The loud crack of the paper made Sienna gasp.
Callum blinked, his eyes dropping to the docunt. He hesitated, his chest rising and falling in tight breaths, before he reluctantly reached out and tore open the flap.
He pulled out the thick stack of legal briefs, his gaze locking onto the bold heading: IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE, FAMILY DIVISION.
As his eyes scanned the first page, reading the terms of the imdiate divorce petition, the grounds of marital fraud, and the ergency asset-freeze motion, the color completely drained from his face. His skin turned a sickly gray, his fingers trembling so violently that the papers rattled in his grip.
"What is this?" he whispered, his voice cracking. "An asset freeze? You can’t freeze the corporate logistics accounts. This company belongs strictly to ."
"I didn’t freeze the corporate accounts, Callum. I froze yours," I corrected, leaning slightly forward, my eyes locking onto his with cold precision.
"Every personal asset, every joint account, and your personal drawing rights from the firm. Eleanor Vance drafted those docunts. Furthermore, because you used marital funds to reinvest in this company, I am suing for the full value of your holdings. To pay out, you will have to liquidate your shares."
"You b*tch," Sienna hissed from behind the chair, her face twisting into sothing venomous.
"You can’t do this! Theo is our son! You have no right to take anything from Callum!"
I didn’t look at her. She wasn’t worth my breath. I kept my eyes pinned entirely on Callum, watching him.
"And if you think losing your shares is bad, Callum," I continued, my voice dropping into a freezing whisper,
"I suggest you turn to page four. The sealed birth records from the private clinic in Wales are attached.
The court now has full, docunted proof that you and Sienna falsified an open adoption to commit fraud against . You made sign papers for a child you claid was a stranger, hiding that he was your biological son."
Callum’s breath hitched. He looked up at , his eyes wide with a sudden, paralyzing terror.
"The family court will not look kindly on an a man who falsified state adoption records just to trick his wife into raising his child," I whispered. "I am filing for full custody of Theo. And with Eleanor Vance representing , I am going to win."
User Comments
0 comments from readers