A few days later, sunlight streamed into the gardens of Sterling Manor. Isabel snipped a rose, her movements elegant in a white sundress.

She turned to Damien.

"Dami," she began, her voice soft. "How are the divorce proceedings coming along?"

Damien’s hand clenched on the stone balustrade. An image flashed in his mind. Gwen, just a short while ago, her eyes red-rimmed, her voice shaking but resolute. "Damien Sterling," she'd said, "We are getting a divorce."

He remembered his shock. Not just at the words, but at the finality in her tone, a defiance he hadn't seen in years.

He had dismissed it as grief-fueled nonsense, a desperate plea for attention. He had kept their marriage secret, bound by an NDA, to protect the company. Or so he told himself. But her words, her sudden resolve, had painted a different picture.

A woman finally breaking free. The thought of her walking away, of losing control, ignited a cold, possessive fury. It was that fury that fueled his indifference. That made it so easy to believe she was simply being dramatic, trying to manipulate him.

He pushed the memory away.

"It will be done soon," he told Isabel. He pulled out his phone and sent a curt message to his legal team, instructing them to send the final papers to Gwen.

A week passed. The papers never arrived. Damien had instructed his lawyers to draft the divorce agreement, but each time the documents landed on his desk, he found a reason not to sign. He told himself it was about maintaining the upper hand—letting Gwen stew in uncertainty. But a deeper, unacknowledged part of him wasn't ready to let her go. So the unsigned papers sat in a drawer, and he buried the delay under more work, more meetings, more public appearances with Isabel.

Instead, Gwen saw him on the cover of a financial magazine, stepping off a private jet in Geneva. Isabel was on his arm. The headline read: "Sterling and Goodwin: Power Couple on Tour." He was dragging it out. Humiliating her. Making a public spectacle of his reunion with Isabel while Gwen was still, legally, his wife. She realized then that he would never grant her a clean break. If he wanted a public spectacle, she would give him one. Her network located him in minutes. Back in New York. Celebrating at Enigma Lounge, the city's most exclusive club. She had her own lawyer prepare a final, signed copy of the divorce agreement, printed it on crisp white paper, and drove into the city.

The doorman at Enigma moved to block her path, but a glance at a tablet made him step aside, his expression shifting to one of respect. He held the door open. The club's impenetrable security was designed and managed by her organization, The 'W' Collective. Inside, the lounge was a den of hushed luxury. Dim lighting, plush velvet. She spotted him immediately, in a large, circular booth. Isabel was beside him, glowing, showing off a large diamond ring to a group of fawning socialites.

"Isabel, is that from Dami?" a young woman named Clarice Sinclair squealed. "Are you two finally making it official?"

Isabel shot a coy glance at Damien and didn't deny it.

Damien said nothing. He just swirled the amber liquid in his glass. His silence was consent.

Congratulations erupted.

Gwen stood in the shadows, watching. She took a deep breath, smoothed down her simple black dress, and let a small, enigmatic smile touch her lips.

Then she began to walk.

Her heels clicked on the polished floor. Heads turned. Conversations faltered.

Isabel’s triumphant smile froze.

Damien looked up. For a moment, his mask of indifference slipped. Something unreadable flickered in his eyes.

Gwen ignored everyone else. She reached the table and, without a word, placed the crisp white pages of the divorce agreement in front of him.

Her voice was not loud, but it cut through the silence.

"Husband," she said. The word landed like a grenade. "You have a moment? I need you to sign the divorce papers."

Clarice gasped.

The blood drained from Isabel's face.

A stunned silence fell over the area. In a corner booth, a man with a restless energy, Tristan Sinclair, who had been about to leave, stopped. He leaned back, a slow, intrigued grin spreading across his face.

Damien's expression, under the dim lights, turned to stone.