Claimed by My Ex-Husband novel · Chapter 19 of 48

Chapter 19: The Vote

Angelo's POV

I stood in the front hall for forty minutes with my hand on the green door.

I did not open it.

I had done the opposite once, in March, with a passport, and I had promised myself that if she ever walked out again I would let her choose the road.

Nobody told me that keeping a promise like that would feel like standing in a fire.

On Friday morning I put on the charcoal suit and went to the board.

The boardroom on the top floor of the Grand had a table for eighteen and a view of the bay, and I had sat at its head for six years.

Today twelve chairs were filled, and Noelle sat on the long side with a slim folder in front of her.

She had put on the cream blazer.

She looked like someone about to read a eulogy she had written herself.

"Thank you all for coming at short notice," she said, before I could open my mouth. "This isn't easy for me."

She slid a page to each of them.

I did not need to read mine.

It was the lobby photograph, the headline, and a list of dates.

"Our CEO has been the subject of weeks of press," Noelle said. "Our hotel's own staff channel carried an image of his wife. His own brother has made public statements."

"That's enough," said the silver-haired man, who had shaken Tala's hand at the gala.

"I wish it were." She turned her head toward me, kindly. "And Mrs. Alcantara left the house on Wednesday, I'm told, with a bag. I say this as his oldest friend. Angelo needs to step aside while this is settled. I'm prepared to run the company until then."

There it was.

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