The Divorce That Brought Us Back novel Chapter 319

Maloney suspected that living with Nora for so long had infected him with her chronic indecision.

The compulsion to filter every single scenario through his head a hundred times before acting.

To obsess over the worst possible outcome.

And then recklessly jump to conclusions, completely ignoring anyone else's feelings.

That was Nora's style.

But it absolutely wasn't his.

He had always been icy, calculated, and ruthlessly precise.

With Nora out of the house, he sat alone on the sofa, sinking into a deep silence until he finally clawed back his usual sense of total control.

His current paralysis stemmed from a buried terror of the unknown.

It felt as though hidden reefs were lurking just beneath the surface of the water ahead.

Forcing him to hesitate.

Making him test the waters with every agonizing step.

The truth was, Nora had never actually blamed him.

He had undeniably altered the trajectory of her life.

But from her perspective, he had been her savior.

A drowning victim doesn't resent the person who pulls them to shore for depriving them of the choice to swim.

She only knew that without him, she would have sunk into total ruin.

It was all a game of probabilities anyway.

No one could ever truly predict the future.

At the very least, back then, he had weighed the risks and made the absolute best choice for both of them.

What was done was done.

There was no point in obsessing over the past.

Maloney rose from the sofa and stepped into the walk-in closet, changing into a sharp, tailored suit.

Honestly.

Ever since he found out she had met with Bella at the airport, he had been trapped in a bizarre state of retreat.

He had come clean.

But instinct was forcing him to pull away.

He had deliberately handed her dry case files, purposefully assigning Maisie—who knew nothing about the project—to brief her.

Yet, instead of blowing up at him after reading the documents, she had only clung to him tighter, doubling down on her affection and eager to please him.

Mr. Hudson practically breezed through the investigation, quickly unearthing her true motive.

"She's looking for a girl named Annie Ward," the secretary reported. "The daughter of Alistair's former nanny. She went missing at sixteen and hasn't been seen since."

Hearing this, Maloney halted his steps toward the stairs. He pivoted and strode into the study, pulling a patient registry from the drawer—the same one he had retrieved from the psychiatric facility on the outskirts of the city just yesterday.

He scanned the pages with brutal efficiency.

"Mr. Hudson."

"Yes, Boss."

"Set up a meeting with Seraphina."

Mr. Hudson worked fast.

The Jamesons and the Sinclairs already shared lucrative business ties, making it easy to get ahold of her.

Getting her to agree to a meeting was even easier.

The second she heard Maloney was the one inviting her, she agreed without a moment's hesitation.

The meeting was set for noon that very day.

As he drove to the office, his mind chewed on the puzzle of why Nora trusted Seraphina in the first place.

She wasn't naïve enough to miss the fact that the woman was using her