hapter 16
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<b>74 </b>
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A chill flickered in the man’s dark eyes, so cold it made her brows tighten. Instinctively, Xylia took a step back.
“Whether I’m obedient or not,” she said coolly, voice steady and detached, “doesn’t seem to have anything to do with you anymore.”
In the very next breath, Joshua moved forward, slipping an arm–light, almost gentlemanly- around her waist.
The ache that had surged up when she saw Connor and Tessa together, the weight of that humiliation, melted away the moment she felt the steady warmth of his palm.
A soft heat unfurled in her chest, so sudden she almost wanted to cry.
‘This… this is what it feels like to have someone stand behind me?‘
In more than twenty years of living, her heart had never known such solid ground.
Xylia lifted her gaze, meeting Joshua’s eyes for a fleeting second. His long, fox–like eyes, a deep, stormy blue, dangerous enough to pull her under.
Her heart gave the faintest tremor, as if brushed by a feather.
Connor’s gaze turned sharp, his eyes cial, the chill in them bearing down like something real.
He knew she was doing it on purpose–baiting him. And yet, the fury still burned in his chest.
This time, she had gone too far.
To put on a show like this at a major business g, did she have no sense of consequence?
He had indulged her for far too long.
“Have anything to do with you anymore?” Connor let out a coldugh. “You really think divorcing me means you’ll have a better life with him?”
He paused, narrowing his eyes, letting his gaze sweepzily between the two of them. A mocking smile tugged at his lips.
“With a powerless pretty boy like that? Your hands and feet are ruined. How could life possibly improve?”
His voice dropped lower, edged with cruel certainty. “Without the Ford family, you’re going
IItb?
nowhere.”
Eight years of marriage, and he knew exactly where to cut. Every word hit the sorest part of
her heart.
Funny. He spoke as if he wasn’t the very reason she was bleeding in the first ce.
Xylia let out a coldugh. She knew Connor hadpletely misread her and Joshua, but she was far too tired to exin.
“That’s none of your business,” she said icily. “Mr. Ford, just sign the divorce papers already. Let’s cut it clean.”
Cut it clean.
Those three words stabbed at Connor’s chest like the peck of a bird, sharp and raw. His eyes darkened, a flicker of shadow crossing his face. “Leave me?” His voice dipped low. “What, so you can be with him?”
“That’s not your concern.”
Connor’s gaze
turned stormy, his eyes narrowing as he pinned her in ce. A mocking smile tugged at his lips. “What can he give you? When the world grinds you down, will he be the one to stand up for you?”
“Huh.” A dryugh broke the tension.
Joshua leaned back with practiced ease, tinum blond hair falling forward to shade the
sharp gleam in his eyes. His aristocratic face was calm, almostzy, but there was a dangerous edge in his tone as he cut in, “Who’s to say I can’t?<b>” </b>
In an instant, the room bristled–thick with gunpowder and the threat of a match.
Xylia’s brows knitted almost instinctively.
In Jupiton, the Ford family ranked near the very top.
For years she had watched Connor Ford’s ruthless methods with her own eyes.
He was dangerous. Even as his wife for eight years, he’d still tossed her into prison without hesitation–just to protect his so–called first love.
And Joshua? With his background, he couldn’t possibly be a match.
Connor narrowed his eyes, those longshes casting a sharp shadow as he sneered. “And what exactly are you?” His voice dripped with contempt. “I’m speaking to my wife–who said you
could cut in?”
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<b>74 </b>
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He studied the man, a flicker of recognition stirring–then gone. Maybe all pretty boys blurred together.
Joshua met his gaze without flinching, lips curved in that same half–smile that never reached his
he looked at Connor–it was the same way one might nce down at an ant The way eyes. crawling underfoot.
Then, with azy arch of his brow, he drawled, “Mr. Ford harassing ady like this, shouldn’t the host of the evening step in, Mr. Zimmer?”
Only then did Xylia notice a figure approaching from the side, a man dressed in finery, radiating wealth.
Walter Zimmer froze for half a second at the sight before him, then smoothed his expression into a smile and strode over quickly.
“What’s going on here?”
Connor’s expression eased just slightly, swallowing down the anger in his eyes.
He knew him. Walter Zimmer–the Zimmers of Jupiton, hosts of tonight’s g.
Among the city’s old–money dynasties, even if he was the sharp–edged neer who looked down on them as much as they looked down on him, they’d still give him that much face.
He cleared his throat, lowering his gaze, a glint of ice flickering there. “My apologies, Mr. Zimmer. This is a private family matter.”
At his words, Walter’s smile thinned. He nced over the group, only to meet Joshua’s warning stare. The smile returned, smaller, sharper–servile almost. “Joshua… Just say the word.”
Joshua’s face was unreadable. He idly brushed his thumb along the edge of his watch, lips curling in the faintest, careless smile. “What do you think?”
Walter understood at once. With a p of his hands, he summoned the staff.
“Get security, Show Mr. Ford out.”
Connor’s face darkened in an instant.
How the hell did this pretty boy know the Zimmers? He wasn’t supposed to be anybody? And yet–look at him. That cheap suit screamed broke.
Even Xylia froze.
Joshua … friends with Walter Zimmer? That didn’t add up.
A man like him, tied up with the heirs of Jupiton’s old families?
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The way Walter spoke to him–it wasn’t just casual. It was deference. Almost like he’d been taking orders from Joshua for years.
As if Joshua were the one he answered to.
But why?
“Hey, you can’t just throw us out!” Tessa nted her hands on her hips, voice shrill and grating. “Do you even know who I am? I’m the principal dancer—”
She didn’t finish. The words died on her tongue as security stormed in, broad–shouldered men in ck suits closing in fast. Her bravado shriveled on sight.
Connor’s jaw set, his expression colder by the second. “One powerful friend won’t save you. You think that’s enough to bend this city to your will?”
Joshua only regarded him with thatzy stare, the corner of his cold lips curling ever so slightly.
Connor’s gaze, in contrast, froze over like ck ice.
He turned on Xylia, voice cutting sharp, “So this is your type? Xylia Schultz, can’t you live without a man? Already sniffing after the next one before our divorce is even done? At least pick someone better than me.”
The words had barelynded before Joshua’s eyes darkened, a ripple of cold slicing through the ink–ck depths of his gaze.
The casual air drained from his face as he stepped in front of her, shielding Xylia without a word. For a fleeting moment, his charm dissolved into something shadowed, dangerous. “You
Connor didn’t bother looking at him. His eyes stayed fixed on hers, voice low and venomous.
“Without the Ford family, you’re nothing but useless. Can he afford to keep you?”
Nothing but useless?
The man who ruined her body–daring to call her that? Rage twisted in Xylia’s chest.
Xylia’s brows drew tight as she stepped in, only for Connor to snap a hand around her wrist.
His thumb ground down on the half–healed scar, painced up her arm and her frown
cinched harder.
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“You’re so blinded by vanity. You think you can settle for an ordinary man? Don’t be naive. An ordinary man will never satisfy that dream of yours–to live as Mrs. Ford.”
His voice dripped with frost, those eyes burning with cold fire.
“Xylia, who else but me could ever give you what you want?”
Cannor’s voice was a barb, driving straight into her chest.
Xylia’s eyes shot up in disbelief. “Vanity? That’s what you think I am?”
“What else?”
Connor let out a suddenugh, releasing her wrist only to trail a hand across her cheek. “If not vanity, then why cling to the Schultz name as their adopted daughter, hogging that ce instead of stepping aside for Tessa?
“If not vanity, then why–after breaking off your first engagement–did you turn right around and marry into our Ford family?”
The words stung so sharply she almostughed.
So that’s what he’d always believed.
So after all these years, every sacrifice she made was, in his eyes, nothing more than the vanity he used her of.
Xylia drew in a shaky breath, biting back the pain as she ground out, “Yes, I’m vain. Call me vain all you like, but I’d never stoop so low as to covet the Ford family. Satisfied now? Then leave.”
Her words weren’t loud–barely above a whisper, in fact–but each one struck like a blow to Cannor’s chest, leaving his expression dark and unsettled.
His brows knit tight as he locked his gaze on her. After a long pause, a mirthlessugh slipped past his lips. “Always putting on a show with me. Do you really find this amusing?”
He’d indulged her far too much. Spoiled her until she thought baiting him with barbs was some kind of power.
In the end, wasn’t all of this just because she still couldn’t let him go?
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