Chapter 6 6

Ciel strode through the lobby, ignoring the whispers that followed her like a trail of smoke. She didn't stop until she reached the elevators, her mind a cold, clear void. She was going to get her resignation letter, hand it to HR, and walk out of this life for good.

The elevator doors slid open.

And her blood ran cold.

Dion stood there, flanked by his assistant, Alex. Behind him, looking pale and sycophantic, was Elias Finch. The group stepped out, blocking her path. The air in the lobby crackled with a dangerous energy.

Dion stopped a few feet in front of her. His eyes were chips of ice. His gaze flickered down to the white envelope she was clutching in her hand. Her resignation letter.

"You will go to the hospital right now," Dion said, his voice a low, menacing command, "and you will apologize to Baylie. Publicly."

A bitter, mocking smile touched Ciel's lips. "Dream on."

That was it. The last thread of his patience snapped. He didn't look at her anymore. He turned his cold gaze on Elias.

"I want her fired. And I want this firm to file a formal ethics complaint against her with the New York State Bar Association. For unprofessional conduct and assault."

He turned back to Ciel, his voice dropping to a venomous whisper. "I will have your license to practice law revoked. I will make sure you can never work as a lawyer in this country again. I will destroy you, Ciel. I will burn your entire life to the ground."

A collective gasp went through the lobby. Even Elias looked shocked at the sheer brutality of the threat. To a lawyer, their license was everything. It was more than a job; it was their identity, their entire future.

Ciel felt a chill seep into her bones, colder than any winter wind. He didn't just want to divorce her. He wanted to annihilate her.

But he had pushed her too far. He had taken everything, and now she had nothing left to lose.

Her spine went rigid.

In one swift, defiant motion, she turned and slapped her resignation letter against Elias Finch's chest. The paper made a sharp, cracking sound.

"You can't fire someone who has already quit," she said, her voice ringing with clarity.

She looked directly into Dion's stunned, furious eyes.

"Do your worst."

Enraged, Dion gave a sharp nod to Alex, who looked as if he was about to step forward.

But just as he took his first step, a sharp, insistent ringing cut through the tension. It was a special ringtone, coming from Alex's phone.

Alex's face went white as he looked at the caller ID. He answered, his hand trembling.

"Yes... Yes, of course."

He covered the mouthpiece and rushed to Dion's side, his eyes wide with panic. He whispered something urgent in Dion's ear.

The transformation was instantaneous and shocking. The murderous rage on Dion's face evaporated, replaced by a look of pure, unadulterated dread.

Ciel knew, instinctively, what had happened. There was only one person in the world who could make Dion Bolton look like that.

Eleanor Vance. His grandmother. The true matriarch of the Bolton empire, the one who held the purse strings to the family's massive trust fund.

"Her flight landed at JFK an hour ago," Alex stammered. "She's on her way to the penthouse. Her trip was moved up a week. Her car is just pulling up downstairs now."

Dion's trust fund was under a five-year review period. A single scandal, a whiff of a divorce, and he could lose access to billions.

He took a deep, shuddering breath, visibly forcing himself to regain control. He waved a hand, dismissing Alex's intended advance.

He turned to Ciel, his expression a grotesque mix of his previous fury and a new, desperate urgency.

"We're going home. Now," he ordered, his voice a strained whisper. "You will play the part of my loving wife until she leaves. We can forget any of this ever happened."

Ciel looked at him, at his pathetic, transparent panic. The master of the universe, brought to his knees by a phone call from his grandmother. The irony was almost too much to bear.

She took a step back, putting more space between them.

"Your trust fund," she said, her voice dripping with ice, "has nothing to do with me."

Without another word, she turned, walked around his stunned, frozen form, and pressed the call button for the elevator going down.

The doors slid shut, cutting off his enraged, impotent face.

From inside the lobby, she heard him roar her name, followed by the sound of his fist hitting a wall.