Chapter 42

~ Franklin ~

The following morning, the walls of my office felt like they were closing in.

I spent hours pacing the floor, my mind a chaotic loop of the previous night’s discovery.

She was seeing someone else.

How dare she?

The audacity of it was staggering. We were still legally tied; by every definition of the law, what she was doing was betrayal.

Yet, she was moving through the city with this stranger as if her marriage—and I—didn’t exist. I pulled my phone out for the tenth time, staring at her contact.

Still blocked.

The silence was a physical weight.

My phone vibrated in my palm. Bella. I hit ’Ignore’ without a second thought. She called again. And again.

My irritation spiked into a sharp, jagged anger. I shoved the phone into my pocket, determined to bury my thoughts in work.

Later that afternoon, I was in the middle of a high-stakes investment meeting with one of my primary partners, Mr. Carter.

We were deep into a collaboration plan when my office door burst open.

Bella swept into the room, her eyes wild, with my secretary, Anthony, trailing behind her in a panic.

"Ma’am, you can’t go in! Mr. Flemington is in a meeting! I told you to wait—"

"I don’t care!" Bella snapped, her glare lethal.

Mr. Carter looked up, his eyebrows raised in professional confusion.

I felt a flush of heat crawl up my neck.

"Why aren’t you picking up my fucking calls, Franklin?" she demanded, ignoring the guest entirely.

I cleared my throat, forcing a tight, artificial smile for my partner.

"Forgive me, Mr. Carter. Could you excuse me for a moment?"

"Actually, it’s fine," Carter said, his tone dry and professional as he gathered his papers. "I suspect you have your hands full with... whatever this is."

"I am truly sorry. It won’t take long," I promised.

"Anthony," I barked, turning to my secretary while maintaining a cold glare at Bella. "Ensure Mr. Carter has everything he needs in the executive lounge while I attend to my unexpected visitor."

"Yes, sir," Anthony murmured, ushering a skeptical Mr. Carter out.

The moment the door clicked shut, I grabbed Bella’s arm and led her toward the private hallway near the elevators—a place where the walls were thick and the staff didn’t linger.

"Let go of me, Franklin!" she hissed, though she followed.

"What the fuck do you think you’re doing?" I whispered sharply once we were alone. "Coming to my office and causing a scene in front of my business partner?"

"If you had answered one of my twenty calls, I wouldn’t have had to hunt you down!"

"I didn’t answer because I didn’t want to talk to you, Bella!"

"Why not? Are you saying you’re tired of me? That you don’t love me anymore?" Her eyes welled with tears, but this time, the sight didn’t soften me.

It felt practiced.

"I’m saying I need space," I told her, my voice dropping to a low, dangerous rumble. "I cannot tolerate your recent behavior."

"My behavior? You mean because of that man? I told you, he’s just an old friend!"

"Right. An ’old friend’ who holds your hand and hugs you like he’s trying to memorize the scent of your skin!" I snapped. "Come on Bella, I’m not a fool."

"Franklin, please...I’m sorry if I said things that hurt you. I just don’t want to lose you." She reached for my hand, her fingers trembling.

I sighed, looking at the ceiling. "Bella... I have too much on my mind right now. I’m carrying enough weight without adding your drama to the pile."

"So, I’m a ’burden’ now? Is that what I am to you?"

"I need space, Bella. Respect that. I will call you when I’m ready to talk." I began to turn away, but her voice stopped me—vibrant and venomous.

"So that’s it then? You’re turning your back on me because of that cheap whore? Because of your fake wife?"

I spun around, my blood running cold. "Keep your goddamn voice down!"

"No! You have feelings for her, don’t you?" She stepped closer, a sinister, knowing smile playing on her lips.

"That’s why you’re treating me like trash. You love Octavia. Admit it, Franklin."

"That isn’t true," I sighed, though my heart gave an uncomfortable thud. "I just need honesty, and I don’t feel like I’m getting it from you."

"Liar," she leered.

"I’m done with this conversation. I’ll call you later."

"Don’t you walk away from me! Franklin! Franklin!" Her screams followed me all the way back to my office door, but I didn’t look back.

When dusk fell, I returned to the estate. The house felt unnervingly quiet, the silence echoing through the high-vaulted ceilings.

After a hollow dinner with my grandfather, I found myself walking toward the guest wing.

I stopped in front of the door that had belonged to Octavia for two years. I hesitated, then pushed it open.

The room was stripped bare. No books on the nightstand, no scent of her perfume, no trace of the woman who had lived here. My heart felt like an empty room itself. I sank onto the floor, leaning my head against the cold wood of the bedframe.

Only now, in the absolute emptiness, did her absence truly begin to ache.

"Why do I miss you?" I whispered to the shadows. "I’m not supposed to feel this way. I shouldn’t care."

Was Bella right? Was I living in a state of denial? I tried to summon the image of Bella—the way she made me feel ’alive’—but all I could see was Octavia’s face at the dinner table, her eyes wet with tears as she confessed she had loved me.

I stood up slowly, casting one last look at the room that was no longer hers. I closed the door and turned the handle, trying to lock my memories of her inside that dark, empty space.

But as I walked away, I knew the door wouldn’t stay closed for long.