Ex Wife's Reckoning

low over silk gowns and perfectly tailored suits. This was Nathaniel Steele's domain-a

canning the room. He hated these galas. They were necessary for maintaining his image and

ost. Samantha. Her name was a scar he didn't dare touch. The memory of he

lips, the burn barely registering as

was

ve of her neck. Diamonds glinted at her throat, but it was her presence that turned heads

wasn't the same woman who had loved him, who had laughed in his arms. This woman was shar

eyes

ading into nothing. Her gaze didn't soften, didn't falt

, she lo

sion sent a ripple of anger through him. The sight of Samantha-Scarlett-at Julian's side was

-

weight, a heat she had anticipated but wasn't entirely prepare

s tone light. "You've made quite the entra

voice measured. "He ne

u've thought this th

g halfway," she rep

rk hair was still perfectly styled, his suit tailored to perfection, but there was something harder about him now. Hi

the room toward her,

-

of her, his voice low but u

smile, though it didn't reach

ce w

ed to leave th

nspoken words. Nathaniel's jaw tightened. He i

e asked, his tone sha

ed, lifting her glass in mock toast

without a trace. Now, you're suddenly back, standing next

een busy. New city, new begin

y. "I don't owe you an

tension in his frame didn't eas

nt before nodding. "Five m

-

Nathaniel waited for her to speak, but Scarlett

asked, breakin

she replied. "You didn't no

not an

ll you'

ce stung, but Nathaniel

t," she

tt. Why did you leave? You didn't even

p edge. "You think there was anything left to fix? After w

now that. But I never

l it? Letting your mother humiliate me, ignoring me when I nee

refused to back down. "I've spent five year

like you, I didn't have the luxury of

, but he caught her

er voice colder. "Samantha is

Nathaniel standing in the shadows, her wo

-

ile. The first move had been made. Yet beneath her satisfa

inning. And the gam