Divorcing The Cold Heir: Watch Me Rise

e cavernous foyer was empty; Charles and Eleanor

n she reached the front hall, her own car was not waiting where she had left it. The guest par

ires on your car is flat. The security staff noticed it after you arrived.

second. Of course. Of course, toni

eone cha

he footman said, carefully apologetic. "We can have it rep

out of reach, as neatly as everything else in this house. Her choices had been arranged for her before she e

ven a driver, made Elena's stomach twist. She tightened her grip on the box

stop

ked in the circular driveway. The tip of a cigare

ette and crushing it under the heel of his shoe. H

voice was flat, neutral

ed in a small space with him. But her own car was useless in the Harding service garage, and accepting a family d

here as if he had decided, out of some cold masculine generosity, when and how she would be allowed to leave

the box on the back seat, and slid into

pulled away from the house, the ti

e window, watching the perfectly manicured hedges and ancient trees of the estate

aturally loud in the quiet car. "I think we should mee

ut off by the ch

out a moment's hesitation, answere

was too soft to make out the words,

s of his face softened. His voice, when he repli

ed up... Don't worry

s interior. It was a sound so alien, so completely out of pla

her own window, her reflection a ghostly

uld recognize. This was proof. He had tenderness. He had ease. He had a version of hims

urned. He made no move to continue their conversa

lid block of ice. It was so clear. He wasn't just indifferent to the

ompete for. Elena no longer wanted the man beside her. She wanted distance from him. She wanted the smell of his cologne

highway, the lights of the city

He guided the car off the main highway and onto an e

ed the

him, confused.

urned to face her. A slow, crue

my mind," he

rief smile disappearing into somethi

red at hi

heard

he strap of her bag. "Barrett,

streetlights. "It's easy to get an Uber from here. And I have

r, after his mother, after the phone call, after every neatly measured insult of t

"You dragged me into your car to strand me on

d. "I didn't dra

in your family's

e a problem for

inking in. He was serious. He was going to leave her

second, she hated him

going?" she a

s jaw ti

ne of your

ill you

longer, acco

she did not flinch. "So t

ack seat, then returned to her face.

ing cruel. Just the old Harding certainty that her confusion,

e. She was paralyzed by the s

vading her space. His scent-expensive cologne and scotch-filled her nostrils. He reached ove

her ear as he whispered, his

et out, Mr

turning her title, her i

k. Her grip was not strong enough to hurt him,

l me that,

st, then to her face. "Then stop acting

t landing unsteadily on the loose gravel. He leaned over, grabbed h

o album slid out into the dust. Elena looked down at it, at the little wreckage of her former

r shut, plunging

res, he pulled away, the red taillights shrinking int

the wind whipping her hair across her face. She fe

Not

e dark. Trash did not bend down, gather its broken box, and understand with absolute clari

ople who answered to Eleanor. She pulled out her phone, her fingers numb and clumsy as she opened the Uber app. While she waited, staring

ir, rage stayed with

at their table, and now her husband had left her on the side

ights appeared in the distan

e highway, then down at t

no long

as evi