Chapter 5

Hazel Horton POV:

I watched Bryon storm out, disappearing down the hallway without a backward glance. His retreating figure meant nothing to me. No lingering affection, no pang of regret, just a dull sense of finality. It was over. Truly over. And the indifference I felt was more liberating than any victory.

I walked out of AuraTech, not looking back at the glass tower I' d helped build, the place where I' d buried so much of myself. My father' s driver was waiting for me, the sleek black sedan a stark contrast to the sterile tech campus. I got in, the plush leather seats a small comfort.

"Take me home, please," I said, my voice weary but firm.

Back at the sprawling penthouse Bryon and I once shared, I began to pack. Not everything, just my essentials. The things that still felt like mine. My coding notebooks, my favorite worn-out hoodie, a few pieces of jewelry that weren' t gifts from Bryon. I moved with a quiet efficiency, my mind already racing, planning the next moves on my chessboard.

Midway through sorting my books, my phone rang. It was Bryon. He must have just received the legal documents. I let it ring. And ring. And ring again. It finally stopped. A few minutes later, it rang again. And again. He was persistent, if nothing else. I finally picked up on the fifth call.

"Hazel! What the hell is this?" His voice was raw, furious. "Divorce papers? A subpoena for corporate fraud against Dorian? What are you trying to do, burn everything down?"

"Hello, Bryon," I said, my voice calm, almost detached. "Yes, those are divorce papers. And a subpoena. It's exactly what it looks like. I'm leaving. And Dorian is facing the consequences of her actions."

"Consequences?" he snarled. "This is payback! You're doing this because you're jealous, because you're a spiteful bitch! You want to ruin us! Don't you dare think you can just walk away with everything and leave me with nothing!"

"Oh, I'm not walking away with everything, Bryon," I countered, a chilling edge to my voice. "I'm walking away with my everything. My team, my intellectual property, my dignity. What's left of yours is entirely on you and Dorian."

"Don't be ridiculous! Just tell your father to stop this. Tell your lawyers to stand down. I know you're just trying to scare me. You just want an apology, don't you? Fine, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. Just come back, Hazel. Let's talk this out. Don't throw away everything we've built!" His voice, once full of rage, now dissolved into a desperate plea, laced with manipulation. He thought an empty apology would fix this. He thought I was still the woman who would fold under pressure, who would forgive him for the sake of the 'family' we were supposed to have.

My stomach churned. The exhaustion was bone-deep, the kind that settles in your marrow. "No, Bryon," I said, my voice tired but resolute. "There's nothing to talk about. The papers are signed. My decision is made. You'll find a copy of my signed divorce agreement and the termination of pregnancy consent form attached to the digital documents I sent. Just sign on your end. It' s all very straightforward."

There was a stunned silence on the other end. He hadn't expected me to actually go through with it, let alone have everything prepared so swiftly.

"What... what did you say?" he stammered, his voice barely a whisper. "Termination... what are you talking about?"

"It means," I said, my voice devoid of emotion, "that our future, the one you so carelessly discarded, no longer exists. There is no baby, Bryon. There is no 'us.' There is only the legal dissolution of our marriage. Sign the papers." And with that, I hung up.

I switched off my phone, tossing it onto the bed. My father's security team and movers were already arriving, moving my personal effects to a new, undisclosed location. I watched them work, a strange sense of peace settling over me. The old Hazel, the one who compromised and sacrificed, was gone. The new Hazel, cold, calculated, and utterly ruthless, was just getting started. Bryon thought he had won. He thought he had broken me. He was about to learn that breaking me had only sharpened my edges.

Meanwhile, in the penthouse, Bryon stared at his phone, the dial tone buzzing in his ear. "Hazel? Hazel!" He tried calling back, but it went straight to voicemail. He pressed redial furiously, his heart pounding a frantic rhythm against his ribs. Still voicemail.

"What did she say?" Dorian asked, emerging from the bedroom, her eyes still red and puffy from crying. She saw the panicked look on Bryon's face. "What's wrong?"

"She... she sent divorce papers," Bryon said, his voice hoarse. "And those fraud accusations against you! And... and she said something about... termination. I didn't quite catch it. What the hell does she mean, termination?" He stared at her, his eyes wide with a dawning terror. "She must be bluffing, right? She wouldn't... she couldn't..."

Dorian frowned, her manipulative gears already turning. "Termination? She's pregnant, Bryon. She wouldn't do that. She's just trying to scare you, trying to make you feel guilty. It's her classic move. Remember how she used to threaten to leave when you spent too much time with me? She'll come around. She always does." She placed a hand on his arm, her touch meant to be soothing, but it felt clammy to Bryon. "Just ignore her. Give her some space. She'll realize she needs you, she needs AuraTech. She needs your name, your charm. She'll be back, begging. Just like she always does."

Bryon nodded slowly, a desperate hope clinging to Dorian's words. Yes. That was it. Hazel was always dramatic. She was playing hard to get, trying to punish him. He just needed to hold firm. He needed to show her he wouldn' t be manipulated. He would wait. He would give her time. She' d crawl back. Just like she always did. He settled back onto the couch, a grim determination setting in.

Ring! Ring!

Bryon's phone vibrated violently on the coffee table. He snatched it up, expecting it to be Hazel, calling to apologize, to retract everything. But it was his assistant, Mark, his voice taut with panic.

"Bryon! You need to get to the office! It's chaos! Half the engineering team just resigned! They left en masse, saying they' re following Hazel to a new venture. And the core product code, the proprietary algorithms for Project Chimera, it's... it's gone! They took it with them! And all the project documentation, the user research, the design mock-ups... everything is just GONE! We can't even access the repository! Project Chimera is dead in the water without it!" Mark nearly yelled, his voice cracking with desperation. "We're hemorrhaging talent, and the stock is plummeting! What do we do?" The phone slipped from Bryon's grasp, clattering onto the expensive Persian rug. His blood ran cold.