The Hidden Empress Stripping Her Secrets After Divorce novel Chapter 40

Six or seven secretaries and assistants snapped their heads up from their desks, their stares snapping onto her like spotlights. A folder slipped from someone's hand, hitting the floor with a sharp smack that echoed violently in the suffocating silence.

Evelyn ignored the bewildered stares, marching straight toward the heavy oak doors at the end of the hall—the CEO's office.

The door was slightly ajar, leaking the sounds of a child's giggles and a woman's sickeningly sweet voice.

Her hand hovered over the doorknob for half a second before shoving it open.

Sunlight poured in through the massive windows, bathing the room in a bright, cozy glow. The scene before her, however, stopped her dead in her tracks.

Lyra was sitting on the plush carpet, her pale pink dress fanned out like flower petals. Two-year-old Leo was sprawled across her legs, clutching a sleek metal toy car, beaming wildly. The coffee table was littered with toddler snacks and a sippy cup of juice, the glass rim catching the sunlight and throwing fragmented rainbows across the room.

The air was thick with the sugary scent of cookies and an overpowering floral perfume.

This brutally sterile, hyper-professional office—a room Evelyn had only set foot in a handful of times—had been completely transformed into a suffocatingly domestic living room.

Lyra looked up. At the sight of Evelyn, a microscopic flash of shock crossed her eyes, instantly buried under a nauseatingly warm smile. "Ms. Sullivan? What are you doing here?"

She stood up, elegantly brushing off her skirt before bending down to scoop Leo into her arms. "Look, baby, who's here?"

Leo blinked his massive eyes toward the door, taking one look at Evelyn's unfamiliar face before his lip quivered and he buried his head in his mother's shoulder.

Evelyn stood at the threshold, her gaze panning casually across the room. Her eyes snagged on the cup of juice for a fraction of a second. Christian was a ruthless germaphobe who had banned all food and drink from his office, with the sole exception of plain water.

"Where is Christian?" she asked, her voice like autumn fog—light, thin, and freezing cold.

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