Chapter 9
The late morning sun blazed overhead in city’s financial district, making Nicole’s smile seem blindingly bright against the cloudless sky.
The joy in her eyes seemed ready to overflow.
In that moment, Travis realized she was genuinely happy about the divorce. A knot of unease tightened in his stomach.
He wanted to say something, but the words caught in his throat. He didn’t know where to begin.
Should he admit he regretted the marriage, or comment on how delighted she seemed about their split?
No, his pride wouldn’t allow it.
So he could only watch helplessly as she walked away.
“Hey… yes, it’s done. I’m officially single again… Celebrate? Sure, where should I meet you?”
Nicole called for an Uber while on the phone.
When it pulled up, she slipped into the back seat without a single glance in Travis’s direction.
Travis stood frozen on the courthouse steps, divorce papers clutched in his hand, watching the black sedan
disappear into traffic. An inexplicable emptiness settled in his chest.
Something told him that this woman, who had been part of his life for over twenty years, was truly walking out of his world forever.
“Mr. Graham, the board meeting starts in an hour.”
His executive assistant, James Campbell, stepped out of the car and handed him a file.
Travis snapped out of his thoughts with a listless “Noted.”
In the car, James briefed him about the quarterly meeting’s agenda and attending investors while navigating through midtown.
Travis, usually eager to discuss business strategy, remained unusually silent.
James sensed something was off. His boss hadn’t seemed himself since leaving the courthouse.
Could he actually be upset about divorcing Mrs. Graham?
That seemed unlikely.
Having worked for Travis for years, even James knew how much his boss had disliked his wife.
Travis never brought her to company dinners or charity events. Even at functions requiring plus–ones, he’d attend solo, carefully maintaining his image as city’s most eligible bachelor.
To most of the city’s elite, Travis Graham was still considered the city’s most sought–after single man.
Eyen when rumors ran, they always linked him with Lucy Miller.
Nicole, his legal wife, had been kept in the shadows.
Given all this, James had every reason to believe his boss couldn’t be sad about the divorce.
Perhaps he was just too happy to express it?
1/2
Chapter 9
+25 BONUS
“Should we celebrate, Mr. Graham?”
James tried to break the awkward silence, catching his boss’s eye in the rearview mirror with an encouraging
smile.
Travis sat in the back of the car, his long legs stretched out, hands resting on his designer suit pants, staring unblinkingly at the divorce papers in his right hand.
Everything that had happened at the courthouse felt surreal
How could she have walked away so easily, without a second thought?
Travis convinced himself that this must be another one of her manipulative games.
James’s voice yanked him back to reality.
His knuckles whitened as he gripped the divorce papers tighter, nearly crumpling them in his fist.
He lifted his eyes, fixing his driver with a cold glare through the mirror.
“What the hell is there to celebrate?!”
