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Chapter 18
It starts with water rushing into your nose, burning like fire” Sannah’s voice was soft, like she was telling someone else’s story. “Then your lungs begin to spasm, desperate for air but pulling in more water instead. The worst part..” She looked up. “You feel yourself slipping away, completely aware —and completely powerless ”
Julian’s gaze fell on her left hand. Her ring finger twisted at an natural angle, the result of a fracture that hadn’t healed properly.
“I had a dream,” she said suddenly, rising from the couch. She walked to the desk and pulled an envelope from the botteen drawer. “You should see this.”
Julian took the envelope. It was heavier than expected. Inside were photos, medical records, and
A water–damaged copy of a marriage license.
“So, this was your real na-“Julian started, but the words died on his lips as he scanned the contents. The photos were graphic. Savannah, lying in a pool of blood, a gash across her forehead. The carpet beneath her soaked dark red. One report read: Three broken ribs, shattered index finger, polmonery edema.
This was–2
*Grayson Whitmore’s masterpiece,” she said with eerle calm. “He’s my ex–husband…“
She paused, her eyes lingering on the soaked license. “No. Legally, we weren’t anything. He thought the man in the sack was someone who hurt his wife. But the person in that sack–was me.”
Julian turned the page and found security footage a tall min shoving someone, bound and hooded, off the edge of a pool deck. A young woman stood beside him, smiling,
Claire Monroe, Savannah pointed. “His legal wife. And ine? Just a joke,”
Julian finally understood the obsession Savannah had with Whitmore Group This wasn’t business rivalry. It was vengeance, seared into her bones
*So you’re going to destroy him.” It wasn’t a question.
Savannah moved toward the window. The moonlight stretched her shadow across the floor.
“I want him to lose everything,” she whispered. “His company. His reputation. Everything”
Her voice cut off abruptly.
Julian stood behind her without touching, just quietly present.
“Revenge won’t give you peace,” he said softly
“Oh really?” Savannah turned, her eyes dark and burning. “Then what will? Forgiveness? Forgetting?”
She yanked open her robe, revealing a deep sear beneath her collarbone. “He did this. With a metal rod. Ninety–nine blows. He counted.”
ΠΡ
julian stared at the scar, then suddenly pulled her into his arms. She froze for a second, then’qullapsed against him as if her strength bad vanished.
“I’m not trying to stop you” Julian murmured, his chin resting against her hair, “I just don’t want to watch the anger consume you.”
He gently took her twisted fingers in his own “These scars, they shouldn’t define you”
Savannah said nuthing, but Jydian felt her tears slowly soak through his shirt
Outside, the sky was beginning to lighten
He looked down at the v
e woman in his arms, calns for once, and made a decision.
“Show me your plan,” he said. “All of it.”
Savanna looked up, eyes red and glassy, Surprised.
“If this will help you finally let go, help you start over,” Julian sald, wiping the tears from her cheek, “I’m in.““”
Ak the first rays of sun spilled through the curtains, Savannah pointed at a chart showing Whitmore Group’s shareholder structure. Her voice was hoarse,
gaze was sharp again.
but her
Sunlight danced across the scattered documents, glinting off the water–stained mariage license.
Savannah stared at it for a moment, then tossed it into the wastebasket without a second thought.
