When Love Strikes Hard

The thick, hundred-page divorce settlement sat on the polished mahogany table.

Evelyn Beaumont stared at the crisp white paper. The silence in the Manhattan penthouse law firm was heavy. It pressed against her chest, making it hard to draw a full breath. She reached out with cold fingertips and flipped the heavy cover open. The sharp friction of the heavy cardstock scraping against the wood echoed in the dead quiet of the room.

Eleanor Pinter, the senior partner, cleared her throat. She slid a heavy Montblanc pen across the center of the table. The gold trim caught the gray light filtering in from the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Kalen Sterling leaned back in his black leather chair.

He wore a tailored charcoal suit that fit his broad shoulders perfectly. Behind the thin gold rims of his glasses, his dark eyes locked onto the rigid line of Evelyn's jaw. His stare was physical. It felt like a heavy hand pressing down on the back of her neck. He didn't blink. He watched her with the predatory stillness of a snake waiting for a mouse to twitch.

Evelyn refused to look at him. She kept her chin parallel to the table. She reached out and wrapped her fingers around the thick barrel of the pen. She squeezed the cold metal until the skin over her knuckles pulled tight and turned bone-white.

A low, harsh scoff broke the silence.

It came from Kalen. The sound was barely a breath, but it vibrated in the quiet room like a gunshot.

Evelyn's hand jerked. The tip of the pen hit the signature line. A tiny, black drop of ink bled into the pristine paper. Her stomach tightened. She forced her muscles to unlock. Without lifting her head, she pressed the pen down and dragged it across the page.

Evelyn Beaumont.

The strokes were sharp, fast, and violent. She didn't hesitate. She didn't let her hand shake.

Eleanor immediately pulled the document toward her, checked the signature, and pushed the second copy across the wide table toward Kalen. She gestured to the empty line.

Kalen didn't move his eyes from Evelyn. Slowly, deliberately, he reached up with one large hand and unfastened the single button of his suit jacket. He leaned forward.

The sudden movement pushed his scent across the table. Cedar, expensive scotch, and the sharp, metallic smell of cold anger. The sheer physical dominance of his large frame closing the distance made the air in Evelyn's lungs seize.

Her spine reacted before her brain did. She leaned back half an inch, trying to escape the suffocating heat radiating from him.

The second she realized she was retreating, her jaw locked. She forced her shoulders down, straightened her spine until it ached, and finally lifted her chin to meet his stare. Her ice-blue eyes clashed with his dark, furious gaze.

Kalen held her stare. He didn't even glance down at the legal document. He reached out, grabbed the pen from Eleanor's hand, and pressed it to the paper. He signed his name in a series of aggressive, jagged slashes.

At the final stroke, the pressure was so immense that the nib gouged a deep, tearing scar across the page, ripping the fibers of the thick paper before snapping with a sharp crack.

Riiip. Snap.

The sound of the tearing paper and the breaking metal was loud and violent. It was a raw exposure of the rage he was keeping locked behind his tailored suit and expensive glasses.

Eleanor quickly pulled the torn document away. She stamped both copies with a heavy brass seal. The loud thud of the stamp finalized it. The marriage was legally dead.

Evelyn dropped the Montblanc pen. It hit the mahogany table with a sharp, hollow clatter. The sound signaled a total, permanent severing.