Divorcing the Heiress by Mistake

ia's

months, my routine hadn't changed. Every morning before work, and every evening after,

up, feared in boardrooms and admired across industries, now lay

the familiar hallway of Cedarwood Private Hospital

e a fixture here-always quiet,

rner to Room 314,

tood outside holding a clipboard

he said quickly.

ith my father?" I ask

t... there's been a new admission, across

e room opposite my father's. At first glance, they could've been mistaken for c

beeping of the heart monitor was like a metronome for my soul-rhythmic a

" I whispered. "I hav

n't hurt as much as it used to.

pdating him on stock prices, on the employees who kept calling,

thing odd

und-a soft thud from the room across the hall.

aus

ty that drew me i

tly, unsure w

shing the door open with ju

en I s

is frame looked strong but pale, like someone who ha

d his face unshaven. But what

pt

he window, but it wasn't

Williams Everett. The once-powerful CEO of Everett Global. A man w

lone and broken. J

leave when his

end you to

There was anger buried

back. "I was just visiting my

oward me then, fully

grief. He studied me like I was

n't be here

ing made me pause. "But for what

flicker of confusion or may

at do yo

is conversation. I hadn't expected anything today beyond th

little more than I'd lik

that as my cue and walked awa

again th

day af

thout intention. I never asked about him. He never asked about me.

refused therapy. That the world thought he was

said one day. "By everyon

er beneath his calm, the hurt that came no

happened. He wouldn'

fee the next morning. He did

lve, he as

." I an

phia?" h

r n

ed. "Fai

d. Quiet meetings.

really was and I didn't want our conversations

e, free of Harton's nam

never cruel to me. There was a gentleness beneath hi

s where he could still walk. Where

those who once praised him

said one night. "And wh

tead, I reached acros

, but didn'

oment things b

for my father, but for him. The man who was learning

at me and asked, "Why

sita

ou. My fa

ed. "Why are you s

eyes, stea

ot as broken as y

'd said something he hadn't heard in a

he whi

I