She Turned Her Grief Into Wings novel Chapter 7

The dinner ended much faster than anticipated.

Shera stood up to grab her bag, but the man beside her was clearly quicker.

"I'll walk you out."

It wasn't a question; it was an order.

Rhys had always operated like this.

She didn't refuse, because even if she did, the outcome would be exactly the same. It had been that way since they were kids.

If Caden was a dictator, Rhys was hardly any better. Sometimes, she honestly wanted to see what would happen if the two of them ever went head-to-head.

As it turned out, Aurelia City had a funny way of making things happen.

The two walked out of the private room. The AC in the hallway felt even colder than inside, and she instinctively rubbed her arms.

At the corner, a figure made Shera freeze in her tracks.

Barely forty feet away, a man stood outside a private room, talking on the phone. Tall, broad-shouldered, wearing a gray suit.

It was Caden's executive assistant—Aiken.

If he was here, then Caden was definitely here too.

Shera instinctively stopped walking, her brain momentarily short-circuiting. She didn't want to be seen, didn't want to explain anything, and definitely didn't want to hear Caden demand, "Who is this man?"

Over three years of marriage, she had explained herself too many times, every instance feeling like she was forced to prove: *I didn't do anything wrong.*

She was done explaining. She didn't even want to interact with Caden at all.

Shera took a half-step back, her shoulder nearly bumping into Rhys's chest.

"Let's go that way," she whispered. "There's an elevator over there too."

Before the divorce went through smoothly, she didn't want to invite any unnecessary conflict.

Rhys turned his head toward the end of the hall. Instantly understanding why she was acting this way, his hand locked firmly around her wrist.

"Shera."

Aiken finished his call, looked up, and gasped in disbelief. "Mrs. Hayes?"

The proximity made all the blood drain from Aiken's face, his eyes instinctively darting toward the door behind him.

Shera tried to yank her hand back, but the man beside her had zero intention of letting go. She turned to glare at him and saw the sheer, unapologetic amusement dancing in his eyes.

Shera gritted her teeth. He was doing this on purpose!

A second later, the door to the private room swung open. Caden stepped out, phone in hand, looking like he was in the middle of typing a message.

He glanced at Aiken first, then followed Aiken's horrified gaze directly to Shera.

Then, he saw Rhys.

And finally, his eyes landed on the hand firmly wrapped around Shera's wrist.

The air in the hallway instantly froze over.

Caden's eyes narrowed dangerously. He flipped his phone around, shoved it into his pocket, and locked his dark, questioning gaze onto the woman standing across from him.