Ex Wife's Collapse After Divorce novel Chapter 9

Chapter 9

By now, people were staring.

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Aurora caught the whispers first – a cluster of onlookers near the parking garage entrance, phones half-raised, eyes darting between her and the two people sprawled in front of her like wreckage from a car accident.

Vivian noticed it at the same time Damian did. The color drained from both their faces simultaneously.

They knew what this meant. Aurora Sinclair, CEO of Stellaris International Trading, caught in a public altercation outside a commercial building. If even one photo leaked – one clip, one thread on social media the fallout would be catastrophic.

And the fallout would land on them.

Damian scrambled to his feet, brushing gravel off his sleeves with shaking hands. “Ms. Sinclair – we’ll handle this. All of it. I have contacts in media suppression, PR crisis firms – we’ll pay whatever it takes to make sure nothing from today gets out. Not a word, not a photo, nothing.”

Vivian nodded frantically beside him. “Absolutely. We’ll contain everything. You have our word-”

Aurora’s laugh was short and cold.

“You think I need you to handle my reputation?”

Both of them flinched.

“What you need to do,” Aurora said, her voice dropping to a register that made Damian’s throat tighten, “is getting out of my sight.”

She lifted one hand. Two security guards materialized from the building entrance like they’d been waiting for exactly this signal.

“Remove them.”

The guards moved. Damian stumbled backward, his composure finally cracking as a uniformed hand gripped his arm. Vivian was already being steered away, her heels scraping against the pavement.

“Ethan!” Vivian twisted in the guard’s grip, her voice pitching high. “Ethan, wait – we need to talk later, okay? Just – call me–”

Ethan didn’t look at her.

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He didn’t even turn his head.

The guards marched them past the perimeter. Vivian’s voice faded into the distance – still calling, still grasping at air.

Aurora swept her gaze across the remaining onlookers. Every single person in the vicinity suddenly found something fascinating about their shoes, their phones, the concrete beneath their feet.

Silence settled like a blade.

Then Aurora turned to Ethan, and the ice in her expression melted into something warm and conspiratorial.

“Well,” she said, a smile tugging at her lips. “I think we’d better slip in through the side entrance. Low profile. Before someone else decides to make a scene.”

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Ethan met her eyes. The corner of his mouth lifted.

“After you.”

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The ride back to Lockwood Industries was suffocating.

Damian drove. Vivian sat in the passenger seat, staring out the window at nothing. Her reflection in the glass looked like a stranger – hollow-eyed, lips pressed into a bloodless line.

Neither of them spoke for the first ten minutes.

When they finally pulled into the underground parking garage and the engine died, Vivian didn’t move. She just sat there, her hands limp in her lap, like a marionette with its strings cut.

Damian watched her from the driver’s seat. He knew that look. He’d seen it on the faces of executives who’d just watched their companies implode in real time.

He reached over and placed his hand gently on hers.

“Hey.” His voice was warm. Calibrated. “It’s going to be fine.”

Vivian didn’t respond.

Aurora Sinclair didn’t even

“She doesn’t know us, Viv.” Damian squeezed her fingers. “Think about it recognize you. To her, we’re just two random people who caused a scene. She’ll forget about it by dinner.”

Vivian’s eyes flickered, but she said nothing.

Damian pressed on. “Besides – I’ve got good news. Remember my friend overseas? Lucas Chen?”

Vivian turned her head slightly. A fraction of attention.

“He’s been looking at Lockwood’s product line for months,” Damian continued, his tone shifting to something bright and businesslike. “Premium jewelry, high-end craftsmanship, exactly the kind of thing the luxury market is hungry for. I talked to him last night. He’s serious, Viv. We’re looking at a deal worth thirty million dollars.”

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