Chapter 6
828words
The story of Mina's betrayal and my dramatic return spread like wildfire through the underworld.
Felix's financial troubles became common knowledge, and his carefully crafted image of cold perfection shattered completely.
Even his most loyal lieutenants began eyeing his throne, sensing weakness for the first time.
As if his problems weren't enough, Mina escaped.
Word was she'd been "rescued" by another crime boss.
The streets buzzed with gossip that Mina and this rival had been lovers all along—Felix hadn't just failed at marriage; he'd been played for a fool by his mistress too.
But Simon and I had moved beyond caring about any of it.
He understood that between the mercenary brotherhood and my marriage to Felix, I'd never known true freedom.
Once our business was stable, he hired top-tier managers to run things and whisked me away on a whirlwind tour of the world.
The day before yesterday, we'd pulled faces for selfies beneath London's Big Ben;
Yesterday, we'd sat front row at Paris Fashion Week;
Today, we strolled hand-in-hand down a winding Irish country lane.
"FREEDOM!" I shouted into the wind, sending a flock of starlings bursting from the hedgerows.
Simon followed at a leisurely pace, his eyes never leaving me, his smile never fading.
I acted like a child, and he laughed without judgment. So this was happiness.
Yet a shadow still lingered in my heart.
"Felix still won't sign the divorce papers. I can't marry you properly."
"You say you don't care about paperwork, but I want to give you everything—the whole package."
Cuddled against him as the sun painted the hills gold, I felt a sudden melancholy, my eyes misting over.
Simon just smiled that knowing smile and ruffled my hair. "Don't worry your pretty head. I have my methods."
Only after weeks of adventure did we finally return to the city.
The day after our return, Simon and our CEO locked themselves in the office for hours.
Within days, Felix appeared at our door, desperation written across his face.
The man before me had aged a decade in a year, his once-imposing presence reduced to a shadow. I barely recognized him.
"Call off your dogs and I'll sign the divorce papers!" he blurted.
Simon leaned back, crossing his legs as he shot me an amused glance.
"That's not my call to make. It's entirely up to Sophia."
I regarded my legal husband with clinical detachment. "Fine. We'll back off. You can go."
Something like grief flickered across Felix's haggard features.
"Sophia, can we talk? Alone?"
Simon squeezed my hand reassuringly before slipping out of the room.
"After everything we've been through together—life and death—how can you just walk away?"
Felix's voice still carried that entitled edge, but beneath it lay genuine confusion.
"I told you my perfectionism would never let me tear up my marriage for anyone. Why didn't you believe me?"
Even now, he couldn't understand why I'd left.
Having played the big boss for so long, he'd forgotten how to see others as equals, to view relationships as partnerships rather than possessions.
"Felix," I said softly, "do you remember my cross?"
"You call yourself a perfectionist, but you let someone else break what was sacred between us."
"In our entire marriage, what part of your behavior could ever be called perfect?"
He stood frozen, mouth working silently, no defense forthcoming.
I don't know if my words penetrated his armor.
But it no longer mattered.
Simon kept his word and eased the pressure on Felix's businesses, giving him a temporary reprieve.
Unfortunately, he'd made too many enemies. Before he could recover, vultures were circling from all directions.
The fall of his empire was inevitable.
Meanwhile, Simon's enterprises thrived, bolstered by several of Felix's former lieutenants who'd jumped ship.
Through their gossip, I occasionally caught snippets about Mina.
As suspected, she'd been involved with a rival boss from the neighboring city all along.
With his help, she'd escaped Felix's clutches, only to become this new man's mistress—trading one cage for another.
Her inability to stay in her lane eventually enraged the crime lord's wife. They found Mina stripped, beaten, and disfigured in an alley. No one's seen her since.
Learning of Mina's fate, I couldn't help but feel grateful I'd escaped that toxic world before it consumed me too.
Two weeks later, the divorce was finally official.
The very next day, I married Simon.
We skipped the ostentatious ceremony typical of the underworld.
Instead, we gathered by the lake behind our villa, grilling steaks and drinking wine with the handful of people who truly mattered to us.
"Sophia never knew simple happiness growing up," Simon said, raising his glass as fireworks painted the sky. "For the rest of our lives, I just want to help her collect all the small joys she deserves."
Then he pulled me close and kissed me like we had all the time in the world.
(End)
