The Don Tore Up Our Divorce (Gemma and Cassian) novel Chapter 369

Chapter 369

Gemma’s POV

Reyna’s question hits the table like a dropped glass. The air shatters.

Gavin’s head whips around, his confusion genuine. “Divorced?” he blurts, looking from Cassian to me. “You two? I had no idea!” His expression softens into awkward pity as he turns to me. “That’s… a shame. I’ve always thought quite highly of you, Ms. Marino.”

Cassian ignores Gavin entirely. His focus is a laser on Reyna, his voice dangerously quiet. “Whether she has a boyfriend or not is none of your concern.”

Reyna flushes, but she’s in too deep to retreat. “I’m only showing concern! After all, she said herself the baby was Mr. Voloshin’s, didn’t she?”

Silence. Absolute, suffocating silence. It’s as if all the oxygen has been sucked from the room.

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I can’t sit here for another second. I look up, my gaze locking onto Reyna’s. My voice, when it comes out, is flat,

<Chapter 369

cold, and stripped of all pretense.

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“First,” I say, each word a chip of ice, “you are not my sister. We share no bond that permits your ‘concern.‘ Second, no one at this table invited you. You are a guest of circumstance. As such, you will either be quiet or you will leave.”

My words are blunt, graceless. But no one moves to contradict me. They all saw who threw the first punch.

The cold in my eyes deepens. “Third, and finally, who I am with, and whose child I carry, is my private business. It has nothing to do with you. I suggest you dedicate the considerable free time you seem to have to learning how to keep your mouth shut.”

The meal is ruined.

I place my fork down with a click and stand up, my chair scraping loudly.

Reyna’s face goes sheet–white. Her eyes dart to Cassian, her lower lip trembling, summoning the practiced act that she can always count on.

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“Cassian, I don’t even know what I sai I think it’s the pregnancy hormones irritable, you know I never mean to…”

upset her.

ng her so

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Cassian doesn’t even look at her, keeping his eyes on me as I gather my bag. His reply to her is swift, brutal, and utterly devoid of sympathy.

“It’s not because of the pregnancy. In fact, everything you said was to upset her.”

Cassian’s POV

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The door shuts behind Gemma with a soft click that echoes in the sudden quiet. William, without a word to anyone, rises and follows her out. A hot spike anger, sharp and bitter, lodges in my chest. The mea.. over before it could begin.

When I finally turn my attention to her, my tone is no less than glacial. “Satisfied?”

Mikhail, who’s been watching the whole spectacle like it’s a particularly entertaining play, pushes back from the table. “Well, this has been… enlightening. I’ll leave you all

. Enjoy the rest of your… evening.”

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He’s gone before anyone can respond

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Gavin shakes his head, his usual joviality replaced by bewildered awe. “That… was quite intense. Your love lives are full of dramatic events, aren’t they?”

I offer him a terse, apologetic nod. “My apologies, Gavin. This wasn’t the evening I intended to have, I’ll make it up to you.”

Once he leaves as well, Liam moves to my side, his voice low. “What were you thinking, bringing her here?”

He looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“I didn’t bring her,” I snap, the frustration ra found me and followed.”

“She

Liam runs a hand over his face. “We should call Rhett. He should deal with this.”

When Rhett arrives, the scene he walks into is pathetic:

Reyna sitting alone, looking small and tear–streaked, while Liam and I stand apart, unmoved. Rhett’s protective instinct flares immediately.

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“Hey-”

“Finally, what took you so long, man?!”

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Liam says, not bothering to hide his impatience. “Take your girlfriend home.”

Rhett flinches at the dismissive tone, his own anger rising

in her defense.

But it’s Reyna who speaks, her voice hollow. “We’re not together anymore, didn’t you tell them, Rhett? We broke up.”

her

Liam’s eyes widen. Broke up? I can see the calculation in his gaze: this means she’s unmoored, and intended harbor. A fresh wave of irritation hits me.

Reyna ignores Rhett completely. She walks straight to me, her eyes pleading. “Cassian, please. Just ten minutes. That’s all I ask.”

She takes a shaky breath. “I know what I did was wrong. All of it. But a lot of it… it was my mother. She was always pushing me, telling me I had to be better than Gemma,

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い

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just like she tried to be better than

tte.”

She mentions Gemma’s mother, and a cold knot tightens in my stomach. If not for Angela and her schemes, Lisette might still be alive… and Gemma might still be mine.

“My mother’s in prison now,” Reyna continues, tears spilling over. “I have no one. No family. For the sake of all the years we’ve known each other… please, just let me come back to Blackwell Industries. I need the work. I’ll sign anything. A contract, a sworn statement. I’ll promise never to go near Gemma again. I have debts… Rhett’s money… I’m desperate.”

ait

She’s using every tool: pity, shared history, her financial peril. She’s even leaning into the one physic she can’t change: her faint, frustrating resemblance to

Gemma.

She thinks it will stir some memory and target some soft corner of my heart. But she’s wrong. Gemma’s strength was in her resilience and dignity. She never used tears as a weapon against me.

I let the silence stretch, cold and heavy. Rhett stands by, a forgotten ghost.

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Finally, I speak, my voice devoid (

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warmth. “If

you need money, in Blackwell

I can have your share

Industries bought out. Converted to cash. That should settle your debts.”

3

Reyna recoils as if struck. The blood drains from her face. Humiliation, deep and complete, washes over her features. She brought her entire, shattered self here, and I offered her nothing but a financial transaction.

She takes a stumbling step back, a broken, self–mocking smile twisting her lips. “I see. I’m a sinner. I don’t deserve forgiveness. I understand now.”

She looks at me, her eyes brimming with tears. “I’m sorry. For everything. I won’t… bother you again.

She turns to leave. Rhett moves to follow, but she holds up a hand, her voice trembling. “Don’t. Please. I don’t deserve your kindness either. Just… leave me alone.”

She walks out, her shoulders slumped, leaving Rhett standing helplessly in the middle of the room, and me alone with the ashes of a dinner that accomplished nothing except to drive the one person I wanted to see