Chapter 8 - The Snake in the Garden
By mid-February, a delicate routine had formed.
Calvin was permitted inside apartment 3B for two hours every afternoon. He brought lunch, sat on the rug, and learned how to build block towers with Maya and how to soothe Lily when she was teething. He listened to Ara talk about her work, offering gentle encouragement without ever trying to control her decisions.
He was earning his way back, inch by inch, brick by brick.
Then, Julian Vance returned to Chicago.
Julian—Calvin’s former business partner whose lies had ignited the breakup two years ago—had learned of Calvin’s sudden exit from Monroe Logistics and his public split from the Stanton family. Realizing that Calvin’s distraction offered an opportunity to pull off a hostile takeover of Monroe stock, Julian set his sights on eliminating Calvin’s focus entirely.
On a rainy Tuesday evening, while Calvin was away at a legal deposition finalizing his complete severance from his father’s corporate holdings, Julian showed up at Elmwood Avenue.
Ara opened her door, expecting Calvin. Instead, she found a slick, handsome man in a tailored trench coat standing in her hallway, holding a thick Manila envelope.
"Ara Quinn?" Julian offered a smooth, predatory smile. "My name is Julian Vance. I was Calvin’s senior partner."
Ara narrowed her eyes defensively. "I know who you are. Calvin told me what you did."
"Did he?" Julian chuckled softly, stepping uninvited into her small foyer before she could stop him. "Did he tell you that he’s using you? Again?"
Julian opened the envelope, tossing a stack of legal documents onto Ara’s small dining table.
"Calvin’s father is trying to strip his equity shares in Monroe Logistics," Julian explained smoothly, his eyes flashing with deceit. "Calvin needs custody of those twin girls to establish a primary family trust under state corporate law. It’s the only legal move that prevents his father from seizing his founding stock. He didn't come back to you because he loves you, Ara. He came back because those girls are his multi-million-dollar legal shield."
Ara stared at the papers spread across her table. Legalese filled the pages—Trust Holdings, Minor Beneficiaries, Monroe Asset Protection.
Her breath hitched in her chest. The old trauma—the terrifying fear that she was just a pawn in the high-stakes games of the wealthy—returned like a cold tidal wave.
At that exact moment, the front door opened, and Calvin stepped inside carrying a box of diapers and a bunch of yellow tulips—Ara’s favorite flowers.
Calvin froze, his eyes dropping from Ara’s pale, shaken face to Julian Vance standing in her living room.
May you like
The tulips hit the floor.
"Julian," Calvin whispered, his voice dropping into a register of terrifying, lethal fury. "Get out of this apartment before I throw you down these stairs."
