No Divorce? The Billionaire's Love Chase! novel Chapter 21

York picked up the divorce papers and glanced through them. He looked up at Claudia, closed the folder, and set it back down.

His eyes fixed on her face, his voice as calm as ever. "You've got some nerve, bringing up divorce with me."

Claudia slowly stood up. After loving him for so many years, she wanted to part on amicable terms. Her gaze dropped to the papers.

"You've helped the Watkins family a lot over the years," she said, her voice as steady as she could make it. "I'll leave with nothing. Your reputation is tied to the Ferguson Group, and you can't have any scandals. If you need me to, I can hold a press conference, take all the blame, and clear their names."

York leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and wearily pinched the bridge of his nose. "Go on," he said into the heavy silence.

Her eyes were hollow, her face devoid of feeling. "It's already done. I've signed. We can go make it official whenever you're ready."

Claudia began to remove her wedding ring right in front of him. York reached out, his hand closing over hers, stopping the motion. He slowly rose to his feet, his gaze locked on her.

"Claudia," he said, "Ann and I… it's not what you think."

Claudia wrenched her hand back, the days of pent-up grief and resentment churning inside her. She looked at him with red, burning eyes. "Then what," she asked with icy clarity, enunciating every syllable, "is it like?"

"You rush to the airport for her in the middle of the night, in the rain. You don't come home for over a month. Don't tell me you haven't hugged her, kissed her, slept with her. Don't tell me that child isn't yours!"

York's face darkened. "You say you love me, Claudia. But you don't have even that basic trust in me?"

His unwavering calm acted like fuel on her rage. "You never used to stay out all night, but you forgot our anniversary for them! You left home at three in the morning for them! You gave me an anniversary gift, and then you gave her the exact same one!"

York frowned. So it wasn't lost that night after all. She had deliberately discarded it.

She must have seen him with Ann in the hospital room.

By the end, Claudia was shouting. "You abandoned your principles for them! You went shopping with that woman during work hours, and when I caught you, you told me to leave, just to protect her!"

Pain made it hard for her to breathe. She grabbed at her hair. "While I was gone these past few days, I was alone in a cheap motel, crying myself to sleep, feeling like my world was ending. And my husband… my husband didn't even bother to look for me!"