Chapter 259
Chapter 259:
Cole squeezed his eyes shut for a fraction of a second, a violent shudder tearing through his massive frame. When he opened them again, the last remnant of human reason was gone. Only dark, consuming obsession remained.
He ignored Crawford entirely and stared straight into June’s face, his chest jerking with erratic, painful breaths.
“My wife,” Cole said, his voice shaking with pathetic, terrifying rage. “Do you have absolutely nothing to explain to me p>
Crawford let out a dark, contemptuous scoff from behind June and opened his mouth to dismantle Cole with words. But June raised her left hand instantly — fingers spread flat, a silent and absolute command.
Crawford closed his mouth. His jaw tightened, but he held his ground.
June took one deliberate step forward, closing the remaining distance between herself and the ruined man in front of her. She looked up at his wet, wretched face.
And prepared to deliver the final verdict.
June let her eyes travel slowly from the top of Cole’s wet, plastered hair all the way down to his ruined leather shoes, making the inspection deliberately, exaggeratedly unhurried. She wanted him to feel the full weight of her judgment.
𝗧𝘳𝖾𝗻𝖽iո o𝗇
Then she laughed.
The sound bounced off the walls of the hotel corridor — cold and metallic, completely stripped of warmth. It was the laugh of a woman looking at something beneath contempt.
“Explain?” June repeated, her voice dropping into a freezing, surgical register. She tilted her head slightly, her dark eyes locking onto his. “Cole, look at yourself. You look exactly like a stray dog that got abandoned by its owner, chased a car three hundred miles through the rain, and is now begging for scraps at the door p>
The words drove between his ribs like a blade. The blood drained instantly from his face, leaving his skin a sickly ash-gray. His chest caved slightly, the air knocked from his lungs by the sheer brutality of it.
June didn’t stop. She twisted it deeper.
“Who exactly do you think you are?” she asked, her tone soaked in merciless pity. “My husband?” She took another half-step forward, forcing Cole to press his back against the wall. “You refused to sign the divorce papers, Cole. But that piece of paper means nothing. In the eyes of the law, and in my eyes, you are nothing but a relentless, harassing ex-husband p>
Crawford stood behind her, dark eyes gleaming with quiet, profound appreciation. He watched the slender woman dismantle a billionaire with nothing but her vocabulary. She was a lethal weapon.
Cole’s breathing turned into a harsh, wet rattle. He ground his teeth together so hard the sound carried in the hallway.
“We are not divorced,” he rasped, the words forced out like splinters.
June rolled her eyes — a gesture of total, unfiltered boredom.
“So what?” she snapped, her voice cracking like a whip. “Do you want to come inside and inspect the bedsheets? Get on your hands and knees and sniff the air for the thing you’re hallucinating in that sick head of yours p>
Cole recoiled physically. His massive ego was being dragged onto the floor and ground into dust. The humiliation burned his throat like swallowing broken glass.