Three days later, Leyla and Shawn appeared at the courthouse to begin the divorce process.
Then about a month later, Leyla received a phone call from Garfield Haywood, Shawn's attorney. Later that same afternoon, Garfield arrived at the mansion with the finalized divorce papers.
It was obvious that Shawn intended to move quickly; every detail had been arranged with precision.
Seated opposite Garfield, Leyla remained silent. Without asking a single question, she signed the documents.
Garfield blinked in surprise. "Mrs. Cooper, would you like to review what Mr. Cooper has allocated to you? Some of the properties listed will need to be converted into cash."
"There's no need," Leyla said, interrupting him calmly.
The truth was, the assets meant nothing to her. She had no interest in whatever Shawn was offering. Still, if accepting it would ease his conscience, she would not refuse.
Her indifference caught Garfield off guard, but he chose not to probe. It was not his role to question her motives; he was there simply to execute his client's instructions.
He then retrieved a bank card Shawn had entrusted to him and extended it toward her. "Mrs. Cooper, Mr. Cooper asked me to give you this card. The PIN is your birthday. The monetary settlement outlined in the agreement has already been deposited."
"Thank you, Garfield," she answered politely, yet she made no move to accept it.
After a brief hesitation, Garfield set the card down on the coffee table instead. "You're very gracious, Mrs. Cooper. The final appointment to complete the divorce is scheduled for Monday at nine a.m. Please make sure you arrive on time."
"I will," Leyla replied.
Once Garfield had left, Leyla immediately went online and booked a flight. She had no intention of returning to her hometown. Instead, she chose a place where no one recognized her, somewhere she could quietly give birth and begin again.
...
Early Monday morning, Leyla reached the courthouse ahead of schedule. At exactly nine o'clock, Shawn's car pulled up outside.
They went through the formalities required to legally dissolve their marriage. When it was over and they stepped out, Shawn said, "Let me drive you home."
"That won't be necessary. I can manage on my own," she said, meeting his eyes for what she knew would be the last time. "Remember to eat properly and look after yourself."
Her words sounded strangely formal to Shawn, and he responded with a restrained nod. After a moment, he asked, "What do you plan to do next? When are you leaving for your hometown?"
"In a few days. I need to go," Leyla said quietly. Before he could continue, she turned and walked away. She looked ahead, refusing to glance back, afraid that if she did, her resolve might falter.
Rather than heading straight to the mansion, Leyla stopped at the nearest bank. She withdrew one hundred thousand dollars from the card. Only after the transaction went through did she notice the remaining balance was staggering beyond anything she had expected.
When she returned to the mansion, Leyla went straight upstairs and began packing her things. After that, she placed the bank card on the desk in the study and left with her suitcase, heading directly for the airport.
...
Meanwhile, Shawn had gone back to the office and immersed himself in work. It was not until he finally had a moment to breathe that his phone lit up with an incoming call from Corrine.
He looked at her name flashing across the screen yet made no move to pick up.
For most of his life, he had accepted that his parents' fatal car accident had been nothing more than a tragic stroke of misfortune.
However, two years earlier, he uncovered evidence that changed everything. The car they had been in showed signs of tampering, and the traffic surveillance footage from that night had clearly been manipulated.
Even more disturbing was the fact that the driver identified as responsible for the collision had reportedly died twenty years earlier.
Shawn could not shake the feeling that his parents' deaths were far from accidental. From that point on, he began conducting an investigation of his own. Three months ago, he uncovered a possible link between the crash and an international criminal syndicate operating overseas.
He had spent years tracing fragments of information in secret and had only recently managed to detect the faintest trail connected to the organization. Still, it was nowhere near enough. He had no access to insiders, no knowledge of their contact channels, and the only direct clue tied to the case—the supposed culprit—was long dead.
What he never anticipated was discovering that Corrine had ties to one of the syndicate's intermediaries.
Even before she returned to the country, Corrine had been aware that Shawn was looking into the organization. She used that knowledge as leverage, pressuring him into agreeing to see her.
Through her, Shawn learned that the syndicate's leader operated under the alias Steph Griffiths. But she provided nothing else concrete.
At one point, he had wondered whether Corrine herself might somehow be linked to his parents' deaths. Yet the timeline made that nearly impossible; she had not even been born when the accident occurred.
Corrine explained that members of the syndicate were exceptionally careful. Whenever communication occurred, it was always initiated by them. She insisted that the liaison would eventually contact her again. She also made it clear she was willing to assist Shawn but only if he divorced Leyla.
After a full day of consideration, he accepted her condition.
He rationalized the decision by reminding himself that the marriage had never truly been his choice. Over the past two years, he believed he had developed no real feelings for Leyla. Their prenuptial agreement had already outlined divorce as a possible outcome; Corrine's demand simply offered a practical justification to proceed.
And yet, when the divorce became official, he was unsettled by an unexpected sense of loss that lingered.
Corrine's call continued ringing until it eventually disconnected on its own.
Shawn made no attempt to return it. Instead, he rose from his chair, took his car keys, and drove back to the mansion himself, choosing not to summon his driver.
