At that moment, the sound of footsteps echoed down the staircase.
Every head turned toward the stairs as Myles appeared, holding a folder in his hand. Since he had just emerged from Cole’s room, it was clear he had news. All eyes were fixed on him, waiting for something that might explain Cole’s behavior.
Myles stepped closer, his gaze flicking nervously to Elliana before he extended the file and said quietly, “These are the divorce papers. Mr. Evans asked you to sign them.”
The mention of divorce papers detonated through the room like a silent explosion.
Allan and Manley exchanged bewildered glances—they had witnessed Cole’s devotion to Elliana with their own eyes and seen how it consumed him completely. On Merritt’s yacht, Cole had transformed his own flesh into her shield, willing to absorb a bullet meant for her heart. That singular act revealed everything—he would sacrifice his life without hesitation to preserve hers. Such profound love didn’t simply vanish overnight. What force could possibly shatter such dedication?
Jason remained oblivious to these deeper currents. In his mind, the family elders’ relentless pressure had finally broken Cole’s resolve, forcing him to discard his unsightly wife like a burden he could no longer bear.
This interpretation filled Jason with quiet satisfaction.
“Elliana, release Cole from the prison you’ve created,” Jason declared. “Cole bleeds loyalty to the Evans family’s bloodline. The successor’s mantle was placed on his shoulders as a child, and every breath he’s drawn since has served our family’s glory. He cannot surrender his position as the family head for any woman.”
Pausing, Jason added, “Nothing—absolutely nothing—supersedes Cole’s duty as the Evans family head. He would sacrifice his own existence before abandoning that sacred responsibility.”
His message crystallized with brutal clarity. He surmised that to Cole, the family head’s position transcended even his own mortality. Naturally, discarding an unattractive wife to preserve that status seemed entirely reasonable.
Before Elliana could process this assault, Jason pressed his advantage. “Cole is never a stingy one. If he seeks divorce, he’ll surely compensate you financially. Sign these documents, and you’ll possess enough wealth to live in luxury until your dying breath.”
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Elliana had maintained her mask of indifference throughout Jason’s verbal assault, dismissing his words as meaningless noise. But at the sight of these divorce papers, her composure shattered. Cole wanted to divorce her? Why? When she had rejected him, he had pursued her with relentless determination. Now that her heart had finally opened to him, he sought to cast her aside like discarded refuse? Could her very existence truly threaten his position so profoundly that he felt compelled to abandon her completely?
Her eyes devoured the legal document’s contents. The dissolution’s justification read “irreconcilable differences,” while the compensation figure matched Jason’s promise—a sum that defied comprehension: ten billion dollars.
Most souls would never glimpse such wealth in their entire existence.
If she possessed the heart of a mercenary, willing to trade dignity for currency, she might indeed accept this blood money and vanish from the Evans dynasty forever.
But greed had never poisoned her spirit! Cole believed he could divorce her with the pathetic excuse of “irreconcilable differences?” She would never grant him such an easy victory! Irreconcilable differences? How laughable. The previous night aboard his private aircraft, he had cradled her against his chest, claimed her lips with desperate hunger, and whispered promises that set her soul ablaze.
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