Eleanor kept her eyes on the road, hands steady at the wheel. In the back seat,


    "Then who taught you?"


    "I taught myself,"n said simply.


    Eleanor''s grip on the steering wheel tightened. He''d taught himself piano for Vanessa?


    All these years, from the day they married until now, she''d always believedn wasn''t the romantic type. But now she realized the truth: he simply wasn''t romantic for someone he didn''t love.


    She pulled up in front of the house, parked, and got out to lift her daughter from the car seat. Unlocking the front gate, she set the little girl down, who dashed off into the yard, giggling.


    Eleanor blocked the gate, turning ton as he stepped out. "You should go home," she said, her tone firm.


    The Goodwin family''s estate was only a fifteen-minute walk away-close enough for a stroll.


    Eleanor frowned, butn had already turned, heading off toward the glow of the streetlights.


    She watched his retreating figure with a twist of frustration. She''d thought divorce would set her free from him, but it was clear now-there was no escaping the ties that bound them. Their daughter, thepany, her work-everything seemed to circle back to this man.


    Eleanor exhaled slowly. She needed to keep her emotions in check, to build a firewall between herself andn. From now on, she wouldn''t let him affect her, not even a little.


    That night, Eleanor logged into a video call with Ellington. When the subject of tomorrow''s joint meeting came up, Ellington urged her to attend. Her eightpanies had justpleted a resource integration, and as the acting CEO, she needed to make an appearance at such a formal asion.


    Eleanor nodded. "Alright, I''ll be there."


    The next morning at nine, Eleanor arrived at the office dressed in a charcoal-gray business suit. She and Ellington had already gone over the main discussion points the night before, so she felt calm and collected, ready for whatever the day would bring.


    Ellington escorted her into the conference room. The long table was already packed with people.


    At the head satn, leafing through a stack of documents. He wore a tailored ck suit, his tie knotted perfectly up to his cor, exuding an aura of poised authority.


    Eleanor''s entrance drew a brief hush over the room.


    A few of the longtime Goodwin & Co. employees exchanged nces. The former Mrs. Goodwin, suddenly taking a seat at the table, made more than one person bristle. This was supposed to be a man''s arena-a young woman, who''d secured her assets through divorce, was easy for people to look down on.


    Gina''s cousin Jacques was among them. Ian had handed Eleanor control of eight integratedpanies without so much as a heads-up, throwing a wrench into Jacques''s carefullyid ns.


    "Let''s begin,”n said, not even bothering to look up, his tone cool.


    Eachpany presented their reports, and Ellington spoke on behalf of Eleanor''s team.


    Throughout,n barely nced Eleanor''s way, remaining the picture of an impartial decision-maker.


    When Ellington began presenting third-quarter market forecasts, Jacques abruptly raised his hand, cutting him off.


    "These numbers look way off to me," Jacques dered. "ording to Goodwin & Co.''s market research,parable hotel brands aren''t going to see more than a twelve percent growth this fall. You''re projecting eighteen percent. Don''t you think that''s a little overconfident?"


    Ellington kept hisposure. "Our projections are based on our growth curve from the past three years."


    Jacques smirked. "That might have held when people were splurging after the lockdowns, but the market''s stabilized now."


    He turned pointedly to Eleanor. "Ms. Sutton, you''re still very young. If your team can''t even get the basic data right, I doubt we''ll be able to keep working together."