Chapter 21

Ethan sat alone in his cold, empty office as his assistant delivered the news of the Bennett family’s bankruptcy and James’s escape. He didn’t feel any satisfaction at all. Instead, his heart felt even emptier. He had personally severed her last, fragile tie to the past, and at the same time, completely blocked any path for her to return. He stared at the digitally restored scan of Natalie’s signature on their divorce agreement. Her crisp handwriting looked, in hindsight, like every single stroke was filled with resolve. A torrent of regret and despair crashed over him, threatening to drown him, making it hard to breathe. Ethan’s condition was deteriorating rapidly. The once unshakable, aloof leader of the Fletcher Group was now a shadow of himself: gaunt, hollow-eyed, with a dark cloud of fatigue and gloom hanging over his brow. Because of his recent out-of-control behavior—his rash moves against Natalie Bennett, the Bennett family, and even in his showdown with Derek—the Fletc