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Chapter 312
Chapter 312:
The manic fire in his eyes extinguished, replaced by a suffocating, crushing weight of guilt. His spine collapsed against the leather seat. He raised both hands and buried his face in his palms. His broad shoulders began to shake.
“I don’t know,” Cole whispered into his hands, his voice fracturing into a broken, agonizing sob. “Julian… I swear to God, I don’t know what to do p>
Outside the booth, in the narrow, darkened hallway, a slender figure was pressed completely flat against the velvet wall.
Alycia.
She had exhausted the last of a hidden credit card — draining the final remnants of a secret emergency fund — to pay a massive cash bribe to the club manager, bypassing strict security protocols to follow Cole into the underground lounge. She was completely broke now, operating on pure, desperate adrenaline.
The booth’s soundproofing was excellent, but Cole’s violent roar had penetrated the heavy curtain.
Alycia stood motionless in the dark hallway, her face completely drained of color, her skin the shade of chalk. Her heart hammered against her ribs with frantic, sickening speed.
She had always believed Cole was merely delaying the divorce over financial complications — protecting the Compton assets, nothing more. But the absolute, psychotic desperation she had just heard in his voice forced her to confront the horrifying truth.
He did not want to divorce June. He was never going to let June go voluntarily.
𝖲𝗁𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝖿𝖺𝗏𝗈𝗋𝗂𝗍𝖾𝗌 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆
A cold, toxic wave of extreme panic swept through her. If Cole chose to ignore Caleb’s dying wish and bind June to him indefinitely, Alycia’s entire dream of becoming the Compton matriarch would be obliterated. She would be thrown out onto the street.
Inside the booth, Julian’s phone vibrated violently against the glass table. He pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and cursed under his breath — his fiancée, calling with an urgent emergency regarding their upcoming wedding venue.
Julian looked at the broken man sitting across from him.
“I have to take this, and I have to leave,” he said, standing and brushing glass shards from his trousers. “Do not drink anymore, Cole. Go home p>
He pushed the velvet curtain aside and stepped into the hallway.
Alycia moved with the speed of a cornered snake. She slipped silently into the dark alcove of the nearby restrooms a single second before Julian walked past. He did not see her. He hurried down the hallway and disappeared up the stairs.
The hallway fell back into absolute silence.
Alycia stepped out of the shadows and fixed her gaze on the velvet curtain concealing Cole.
Her eyes narrowed into dark, venomous slits. The panic in her chest hardened into a cold, ruthless determination. She could not wait any longer. She had to force his hand — to create a situation so completely irreversible that Cole’s sense of duty would trap him forever.
She turned and walked silently toward the private bar at the end of the hall.
The bartender, a young man wiping down the counter, looked up as she approached.