In the makeshift grandstand, Leland eased his coat around Davina's shoulders with practiced tenderness.
"You love watching races. I could've booked the whole track just for you," he murmured, brushing a thumb over her sleeve. "You didn't need to come out here—especially after just recovering. And without any progress on Divine Cure yet, I can't risk you catching a cold."
The way he cared for her—with such soft affection—stirred a low wave of envy through the crowd.
With a rosy flush coloring her cheeks, Davina tapped lightly against his chest. "I'm really not that delicate. While I was overseas, the medication your uncle's lab developed did wonders for me."
Leland's face tightened, shadows cutting sharply across his features. "He owed you that much. If not for him, we never would've spent those three years apart."
A thin curl of satisfaction lifted Davina's mouth.
Three missing years meant nothing. Everything tied to the Morgan family was destined to fall into her hands.
While she laughed lightly, a flicker of movement drew her attention, and she spotted Kaelyn at the edge of her vision. A breeze swept across the mountain road, teasing Kaelyn's long hair until it drifted around her like a silken veil, making her look effortlessly alluring.
A faint pinch tightened in Davina's chest. She let out a delicate cough and gestured downhill with a hesitant finger. "Leland… isn't that Kaelyn? Did you ask her to come? Should I… maybe give you two some space?"
She pushed herself to her feet with an unsteady grace, feigning frailty as uncertainty clouded her expression.
Leland's head snapped in the direction she pointed. There, he caught Kaelyn mid-laugh, her bright smile dazzling as she chatted with the people around her.
The curve of her waist flashed beneath her top, a sliver of skin that gleamed like an unintentional tease.
Something fierce and unnameable clawed up his chest. His eyes darkened, stormy with a rage he couldn't quite explain.
"I didn't ask her to come."
Before the words settled, a faint pull tightened at his sleeve.
Davina eased closer, her voice dipped in soft concern. "Leland, the people around these racing teams are a mixed crowd. It's really not a place Kaelyn should be wandering. If someone with bad intentions snaps a photo and twists the story, it could damage the Morgan family."
A bitter little chuckle rose from his chest, as though the outcome hardly surprised Leland. Kaelyn clearly had no intention of making this divorce easy for him.
She acted so detached, signing the divorce papers without blinking—yet here she was, appearing right where Davina would notice, as if she meant to spark trouble on purpose.
Such calculated malice clung to Kaelyn's every move.
"Davina, hold on a second." His voice dropped low as he broke away, hurrying down the steps.
Leland closed the distance in long, cutting strides and clamped a hand around Kaelyn's arm without warning.
A biting frost rolled off him, sharp enough that people nearby felt it prickle across their skin.
"What the hell are you doing here? Wasn't five million supposed to be plenty? How much more are you trying to squeeze out of me now?"
The riders nearby went still, exchanging stunned looks for a beat before the pieces fell into place.
Was this the woman Leland had dumped? Was she unhappy with the breakup payout and now here to cause a public scene?
She looked devastatingly gorgeous, leagues above the delicate woman on the grandstand who seemed ready to swoon at every breeze, yet somehow this beauty was the one tossed aside.
Leland had to be out of his mind!
Kaelyn arched a brow, taking in the man who had stormed over with a glare sharp enough to cut.
Her gaze stayed steady and cool, untouched by his fury. "Didn't I rip up that five-million check and toss it in your smug face when we divorced? Are you suffering memory loss now?"
A ripple of confusion swept through the riders, drawing them in tight.
Divorced? Was this really their boss's ex-wife?
Their curiosity spiked; they hovered as if rooted to the spot, eager for every scrap of gossip.
Heat climbed up Leland's neck, and the humiliation on his face was impossible to hide.
He yanked her closer, staring down at her delicate features—only to find nothing there. No hurt. No longing. Not even irritation.
Her composure only stoked the storm in his chest.
And the moment he caught sight of her without those glasses—her beauty surged into focus, stunning in its intensity—his frustration twisted deeper.
It felt as though he'd tossed aside a stray he'd raised for three years, only to discover too late she'd been a rare, priceless creature he never actually deserved.
"Kaelyn, I told you to keep your head down and stay out of trouble. Did you really have to make a scene right under my nose?"
