The next morning, Cilla walked into the glass-walled lobby of Hudson Tech.

She wore a sharp, tailored black blazer and trousers. Her posture was flawless.

The receptionist stood up quickly. "Mrs. Hudson, you can't go up without an appointment..."

Cilla didn't even slow down. She shot the receptionist a look so cold and piercing that the woman immediately sat back down, her mouth snapping shut.

Cilla swiped her access card, stepped into the elevator, and rode it to the executive floor.

She pushed open the heavy glass doors of the CEO's office without knocking.

Jace was sitting behind his massive oak desk, reviewing a stack of quarterly reports.

He looked up, his brow furrowing in irritation. "What are you doing here?"

Cilla walked straight to his desk. She pulled a thick manila envelope from her bag and slammed it down onto the polished wood.

The sound made Jace flinch.

"Sign them," Cilla demanded, her voice flat.

Jace looked at the bold letters printed on the top page. Petition for Dissolution of Marriage.

His face darkened instantly. The muscles in his jaw worked furiously.

"Are you serious?" Jace sneered. "Is this your little game? Playing hard to get to make me apologize?"

"I don't want your apology," Cilla said, crossing her arms. "I want your signature. Don't waste my time."

Jace flipped open the document. His eyes scanned the first page, and then he stopped.

His head snapped up. "You want half of my company shares?"

"They are marital assets," Cilla replied smoothly.

"You greedy, bloodsucking leech!" Jace yelled, slamming his hand on the desk. "You didn't build this company! I did!"

Cilla let out a dry, mocking laugh. "Really? Do you really think this company was built by you alone? Jace, without my 'contributions' behind the scenes, Hudson Tech wouldn't have even secured its first round of funding. You'd better pray my lawyers don't start digging into the intellectual property assignments to see who actually did the heavy lifting."

Jace rolled his eyes, his lip curling in disgust. "You're a glorified technician. You sit in a lab and type code. You think you're an expert? The engineering team did the real work."

Cilla didn't bother arguing. His arrogance was a terminal disease.

"Sign the papers, Jace. Or my lawyers will see you in court."

Jace pushed his chair back violently. He stood up and walked around the desk, using his height to tower over her.

He leaned in close, his voice dropping to a menacing whisper. "If you leave me, you will have nothing. You are a nobody without my money."

Cilla didn't step back. She tilted her chin up, staring directly into his eyes with absolute contempt.

Jace saw the defiance in her eyes. His strategy shifted.

He softened his expression, raising his hand to cup her cheek. "Come on, Cilla. Stop this nonsense. Just admit you overreacted, and we can go back to normal."

Cilla felt her stomach churn. She slapped his hand away so hard the sound echoed in the room.

"Don't ever touch me again," she hissed.

Jace's face twisted in pure rage.

He grabbed the divorce papers from the desk, gripped them in both hands, and ripped the thick stack of paper straight down the middle.

He threw the torn halves into the metal trash can.

"I am never signing those," Jace said, his chest heaving. "I will drag this out until you are begging me for a dollar."

Cilla smirked. "Tear them up. My lawyer has digital copies."

The office door clicked open.

Carolyn walked in, holding two cups of artisanal coffee.

She saw Cilla and immediately stopped. Her eyes widened, and she bit her lower lip, looking like a frightened deer.

"Oh... Jace, did I interrupt something?" Carolyn asked softly.

Jace immediately walked over to Carolyn, wrapping a protective arm around her waist. "No. She was just leaving."

The smell of Carolyn's floral perfume hit Cilla's nose, making her physically nauseous.

Cilla looked at the two of them. They deserved each other.

She turned and walked toward the door.

"The court summons will be delivered to your house," Cilla said without looking back.

She walked out, leaving Jace standing in his office with a vein throbbing in his forehead.

At three o'clock that afternoon, Cilla sat in a secluded booth at an ultra-exclusive Manhattan cafe.

She had received a text from Meryl demanding a meeting. Cilla only agreed because she wanted to see how desperate the woman was.

Meryl sat across the table, wearing oversized designer sunglasses inside the dimly lit room. Her Hermes Birkin bag sat on the leather seat next to her.

Meryl reached into the bag and pulled out a sleek blue folder. She slid it across the table.

"This is a settlement agreement," Meryl said, her tone dripping with superiority. "Jace has already signed it."

Cilla didn't touch the folder. She just looked at it.

"Open it," Meryl commanded.

Cilla flipped the cover open. She scanned the legal jargon quickly.

The terms were laughable. She was to forfeit all claims to Hudson Tech shares, give up the penthouse, and waive any right to spousal support.

In exchange, she would receive a one-time severance payment of one million dollars.

"One million," Meryl sneered, taking a sip of her sparkling water. "Consider it an act of extreme charity. You take this, and you disappear."

Cilla kept her face completely blank.

"If you try to fight this in court," Meryl threatened, leaning forward, "the Hudson legal team will bury you. You won't even be able to afford the retaining fees. You'll be bankrupt before the first hearing."

Cilla looked down at the signature line. Jace's messy, arrogant scrawl was already there.

He had told her he wouldn't sign the divorce papers, but he had secretly sent his mother to ambush her with this insulting offer.

Cilla picked up her porcelain coffee cup and took a slow sip.

Meryl misinterpreted the silence. She thought Cilla was calculating the money.

"You need to leave him alone," Meryl added, her voice dropping lower. "Carolyn is pregnant. Jace needs to focus on his real family now."

Cilla's heart didn't even skip a beat. It was a classic Meryl tactic, a lie designed for maximum emotional damage. If Carolyn were truly pregnant, the news would have been plastered on every high-society blog for a week, celebrated with sickening extravagance, not weaponized by Meryl in a desperate, quiet attempt to gain leverage. The lie was so obvious, so pathetic, it didn't even register as pain.

Cilla set her coffee cup down. She reached into her blazer pocket and pulled out a heavy Montblanc fountain pen.

She uncapped it with a smooth twist.

Meryl's eyes lit up with triumph. She thought she had won.

Without a single second of hesitation, Cilla pressed the gold nib to the paper and signed her name on the dotted line.

She flipped to the next page and signed again.

When she was done, she casually tossed the folder back across the table. It slid and hit Meryl's water glass with a clink.

Meryl stared at the signed documents. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.

"Did you... did you even read the terms?" Meryl stuttered, completely thrown off balance by how easy that was.

Cilla stood up. She looked down at Meryl, her eyes cold and empty.

"Keep your pathetic million dollars," Cilla said, her voice cutting through the quiet cafe. "Buy yourself a nice coffin with it."

Meryl gasped, her hand flying to her chest. "Excuse me?"

"I don't want a single cent from your disgusting family," Cilla stated clearly. "I just want to be legally scraped clean of the Hudson name."

Meryl was completely speechless. The intimidation tactic had failed spectacularly.

Cilla picked up her bag and turned to leave.

She paused at the edge of the booth. "Don't ever contact me again."

Cilla walked out of the cafe and pushed the heavy glass door open.

The cool New York air hit her face.

She had just signed away millions in marital assets, but as she stood on the sidewalk, a massive weight lifted off her chest.

She was free.

She pulled out her phone and dialed Lena's number.

"Hey," Cilla said, a genuine smile touching her lips for the first time in months. "I'm officially single. Let's get dinner."

The dining room of Le Bernardin was a masterpiece of hushed elegance. Crystal chandeliers cast a warm glow over the white tablecloths.

Cilla sat by the window, cutting into a perfectly seared piece of Wagyu beef.

Lena sat across from her, holding a glass of expensive red wine.

"They are absolute idiots," Lena said, taking a large gulp of wine. "Giving up your shares? Fine. We'll start our own tech firm. You have the brains, I have the capital. We'll crush Hudson Tech in a year."

Cilla smiled, chewing her food slowly. The knot in her stomach that had been there for years was finally gone.

Suddenly, a loud burst of laughter shattered the quiet atmosphere of the restaurant.

Cilla looked up. Her brow furrowed.

Walking through the entrance was Jace, Carolyn, and a group of Jace's wealthy, obnoxious friends.

The maître d' led the loud group toward a large round table right in the center of the room.

Carolyn was clinging to Jace's arm. She turned her head and her eyes locked onto Cilla.

Carolyn immediately tugged on Jace's sleeve and whispered in his ear.

Jace turned. When he saw Cilla, his face darkened. He clearly thought she was stalking him.

Kade Vance, Jace's loudest and most arrogant friend, followed their gaze.

Kade let out a booming, mocking laugh that made several other diners turn their heads.

"Well, well, well," Kade said loudly, walking toward Cilla's table. "Look who decided to spend her alimony check all in one place."

Jace and Carolyn followed Kade, standing near the edge of Cilla's table.

"How did someone from a no-name state school even get a reservation here?" Kade sneered, looking Cilla up and down. "Look who's spending Jace's money. I'm surprised they let your kind in here without a leash. Did you have to wash dishes in the back to pay for the appetizers?"

Lena slammed her wine glass down on the table. The dark liquid sloshed over the rim.

Lena opened her mouth to scream at Kade, but Cilla reached across the table and clamped her hand firmly over Lena's wrist.

Cilla shook her head slightly, her eyes perfectly calm.

Carolyn stepped forward, tilting her head in a display of fake sympathy.

"Cilla, if you're struggling financially now that you're on your own, you can tell us," Carolyn said sweetly. "My airline is always hiring janitorial staff. I could put in a good word for you."

Kade burst into laughter again. "Yeah, that's about the speed for someone with her background."

Jace stood there with his hands in his pockets. He didn't say a word to stop them. He just watched, letting his friends humiliate her.

Cilla calmly set her knife and fork down. She picked up her linen napkin and dabbed the corners of her mouth.

She looked up at Carolyn. "Do you really think being a commercial pilot makes you elite, Carolyn?"

Carolyn puffed out her chest, a smug smile on her face. "I am a captain. I represent the top tier of aviation professionals."

Lena couldn't take it anymore. She yanked her wrist out of Cilla's grip and stood up.

"You people are so stupid it physically hurts!" Lena yelled. "Cilla's resume would make you all look like toddlers playing in a sandbox!"

Kade wiped a tear of laughter from his eye. "Oh really? What is she? A Harvard graduate?"

"She graduated from West Point!" Lena shouted, her voice echoing off the wood-paneled walls.

For a split second, there was silence.

Then, Kade, Carolyn, and the rest of the group erupted into howling laughter.

Carolyn covered her mouth, giggling uncontrollably. "West Point? That is the most pathetic, desperate lie I have ever heard."

Kade pointed a finger at Cilla's slender frame. "Look at her! She couldn't even pass a basic fitness test, let alone survive a military academy."

Jace stepped forward, his face flushed with embarrassment.

"Stop this, Cilla," Jace demanded, his voice hard. "You're making a fool of yourself. Stop lying to make yourself look important."

Before Cilla could respond, the scraping of a heavy wooden chair sounded from the table next to them.

An elderly man with silver hair and a sharp, commanding presence stood up.