Chapter 251:

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Corinne POV

Casey turned around, a fake smile plastered on his face. “Of course, Captain Carlisle. When it comes to work, Nexus is always professional.”

He stressed the word “professional,” his eyes flicking meaningfully toward Dayna, whose face was still tight with anger.

Blake’s jaw clenched, but he said nothing more.

Casey and I walked out, hushed whispers from Dayna’s team trailing after us.

The moment the elevator doors slid shut, Casey finally swore under his breath. “The absolute nerve.”

He looked at me, his eyes full of concern. “Are you okay?”

I shook my head, my face blank. “I’m fine. It’s just that this low-level office politics is so noisy. My energy should be going into the national security platform architecture, not into playing musical chairs with Dayna.”

We had lunch at a quiet Japanese restaurant nearby. Casey tried to make me laugh with silly jokes, but my responses were distant. The food was good, yet I found myself staring out the window more than at my plate.

The afternoon meeting was surprisingly professional. Blake and Dayna seemed to have realized that direct confrontation wasn’t working in their favor. They kept their distance, and I kept my focus on the data.

𝘍𝗶𝗇𝘥 nov𝗲𝘭 𝘗𝘋𝘍𝗌 о𝗇 𝘨𝘢𝗹𝗇𝘰vе𝗹𝘀.𝖼𝘰𝘮

The moment it ended, I packed up my things. I didn’t want to spend another second in that building.

Casey offered to drive me home, but I declined. “I need to walk for a bit.”

I didn’t go home, though. I drove to the Hudson River, parked, and watched the gray water slide by. The river was steady and indifferent, the same river I had stood beside months ago when I first decided to file for divorce. It was strange to realize how much had changed, and how much had stayed the same.

I took out my phone and sent Blake a formal message: “I will be at the estate at seven to deliver the pre-trial custody stipulations for Lily.”

Arthur Vance and my legal team had drafted the formal pre-trial stipulation packet. Giving Blake this final chance to settle custody out of court was a strategic legal necessity. It would establish on the court record that I had made every reasonable effort to spare Lily a contentious judicial evaluation.

Rather than linger in his presence, I arrived at the estate while Blake was still out, left the sealed legal binder with Mr. Henderson at the console table, and instructed him to make sure Mr. Carlisle received it the moment he returned.

As I stepped back out toward my sedan, Blake’s car suddenly swerved into the driveway. He got out, visibly tired and carrying the faint scent of winter rain.

He paused when he saw me on the front steps with my briefcase. “You came here?”

“The formal custody stipulation is with your butler, Blake,” I said calmly, without breaking my stride. “This is your final chance to agree to sole maternal custody privately and spare Lily the trauma of a courtroom examination.”

Before he could respond, his phone vibrated loudly in his hand. He checked the screen, and his expression instantly fractured into acute anxiety. He answered right away.

“Dayna? What happened? Where are you? Stay where you are. I’m coming right now.”

He shoved the phone into his pocket, grabbed his car keys, and turned back toward his vehicle without so much as a glance at the house where the legal documents waited.

“Blake,” I said evenly. “The deadline on that stipulation is final.”

“Dayna has an emergency. Whatever paperwork you have can wait,” he threw over his shoulder. His tires screeched as he sped off into the night.

I stood in the cool evening air, watching his taillights disappear. There was no sorrow, no lingering ghost of a past marriage left to mourn. Blake had made his priorities unmistakably clear, walking away from his daughter’s welfare to chase Dayna’s latest drama. The family court judge would have our full filing by morning.

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