Located at the corner of the executive floor, it commanded attention through sheer architectural presence.
Floor-to-ceiling windows on two walls offered panoramic views of the city sprawling below, the financial district’s gleaming towers to the east, the river’s silver ribbon to the south, and the industrial zones hazed with distance to the west.
The afternoon sun slanted through the glass, casting geotric patterns across polished marble floors.
The space was large, not quite as expansive as Lu Zeyan’s presidential suite, but substantial enough to make a statent about the importance of whoever occupied it.
The furniture was expensive in that understated way that scread serious money: a massive desk of dark wood that looked like it had been carved from a single tree, leather chairs that probably cost more than most people’s monthly salaries, a conference table that could seat eight comfortably, and built-in shelving that lined one wall from floor to ceiling.
It had been cleaned recently but still carried the lingering ghost of its previous occupant—a faint sll of old coffee and expensive cologne, the slight indentation in the leather desk chair where soone had sat for years, a forgotten pen holder still bearing the initials "L.W."
"It’ll do," Shuyin said, walking in and imdiately claiming the space with her presence.
The transformation was subtle but unmistakable.
The mont she crossed the threshold, the office stopped being a vacant room waiting for new occupancy and beca hers, her territory, her power base, her command center, and a place where she would craft every strategy to bring down those who’d destroyed her.
Of course, except for Lu Yuze.
He was still her husband.
She instinctively gazed at the ring on her finger and unknowingly smiled, a softness crossing her features that hadn’t been there monts before.
At that precise mont, Lu Zeyan caught her.
His eyes tracked from her face to the ring, and sothing dark flickered across his expression, jealousy, confusion, possessiveness all tangled together.
"Shuyin, our engagent still stands," he said, his voice carrying an edge that suggested he was trying to convince himself as much as her. "We haven’t broken up, and on social dia platforms, we are still the golden couple who could be getting back together. You can get rid of that ring, and I’ll find you a better one."
He stared at the band on her finger with an intensity that bordered on obsessive.
There was nothing objectively wrong with the ring, it was understated, almost plain compared to the ostentatious jewelry he would have chosen, but sothing about it made his skin crawl.
It looked cheap at first glance, yet sohow felt priceless in a way he couldn’t articulate.
Shuyin’s smile vanished as if it had never existed.
Cold fury settled over her features like frost creeping across glass, transforming her face into sothing beautiful and terrifying all at once.
"Our engagent?" She turned to face him fully, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper that sohow carried more weight than any shout. "You threw away like garbage even before I went to prison, Zeyan. You hid away and then watched them drag away without saying a single word."
"I had no choice...."
"There’s always a choice!"
Her voice rose sharp enough to make Chen Xiao flinch instinctively, and Yuyan imdiately pulled the child closer, her arms wrapping around him protectively.
"You made yours. I’ve made mine."
Lu Zeyan stepped deeper into the office, his jaw tightening as wounded pride warred with whatever remained of his feelings for her.
"I was protecting the company, protecting us...."
"Us?"
"From who?"
"You or ?"
Shuyin’s laugh was bitter and cutting, the sound of sothing that had once been soft turning sharp and weaponized. Through the original owner’s mories, she felt bad and sad for her. She didn’t deserve any of this!
"There is no us. There hasn’t been for a long ti."
The words hung in the air like a death sentence.
Before she could say more, before she could step away, Lu Zeyan closed the distance between them in three quick strides.
His hand shot out, fingers wrapping around hers with desperate urgency as he tried to twist the ring off her finger.
"Then why are you still wearing a ring?" His voice cracked slightly, betraying emotions he probably didn’t want to show. "Who gave you this...."
The ring wouldn’t budge.
It sat on her finger as if it had always been there, as if it had grown from her very flesh, refusing to move even a milliter despite his increasingly frantic attempts.
He tried again, harder this ti, his grip tightening until it had to hurt, twisting with enough force that her skin should have torn.
Shuyin’s eyes went ice cold.
Sothing shifted in her expression, sothing ancient and predatory that looked out through human eyes and found the scene before it offensive.
SLAP!
The sound cracked through the office like a gunshot, sharp and unmistakable.
Lu Zeyan’s head snapped to the side, his cheek blooming red where her palm had connected with enough force to leave a perfect handprint.
For a mont, he just stood there, stunned, one hand still gripping hers, the other flying up to his face as if he couldn’t quite believe what had just happened.
"How dare you...." he started to turn back, reaching for her again, his free hand rising as if he could sohow reestablish control through physical dominance.
SLAP!
The second hit landed even harder, this ti on the other cheek, creating a matching red mark that would definitely bruise by evening.
Tank and Blade both moved forward instinctively, their bodies shifting into protective stances, but Ting Fei raised one hand in a subtle gesture that froze them mid-step.
This was Shuyin’s fight.
They were rely witnesses.
Lu Zeyan’s eyes blazed with shock and anger, his face now bearing matching handprints like so bizarre tribal marking.
"Shuyin, I’m trying to...."
SLAP!
The third slap was delivered with such force that Lu Zeyan actually stumbled back a step, his hand finally releasing hers as he brought both hands up to his face instinctively.
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