Magnus kept watching the car until it disappeared at the corner. Then he looked away, lips curling slightly in faint annoyance.
“Nothing,” he said flatly, though his lips pressed into a thin line. “Red Corvettes just… irritate me for some reason.”
Brent blinked but said nothing. He simply nodded and went back to reviewing the next meeting location on his tablet.
Magnus’s phone began to ring.
Brent glanced at the screen before handing it over. “Mr. Graves, it’s your mother.”
Magnus took the phone and lifted it to his ear. “Mom?”
On the other side, Camila’s voice came sharp and impatient.
“Magnus, it’s been two years. How many times do I have to ask you? When are you bringing your wife back home? Do I need to call you every single week to remind you?”
Magnus exhaled slowly, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Why would I bring her back?” he replied, his tone edged with impatience. “We’re divorced.”
“It was not a real divorce!” Camila snapped. “How many times have I told you to go and bring Sophia back? It’s not difficult. You’re making my life miserable for no reason! I’m losing my damn mind here, don’t you understand?”
Magnus’s jaw hardened. His fingers tightened around the phone.
“Mom,” he said through restrained frustration, “as far as I remember, it was a marriage that wasn’t meant to last. I married her because you forced me to. Isn’t that enough?”
His voice grew colder.
“She got my name. She was Mrs. Graves. That alone is enough to secure her life. I gave her a generous settlement.More than generous!” His jaw tightened. “Why do you keep insisting I bring her back?”
Brent subtly stepped a little further away, pretending not to hear.
On the other end, Camila’s sharp intake of breath was audible even through the speaker.
“You—” Camila faltered, stunned into silence for a brief second. When she spoke again, her tone was no longer coaxing but commanding. “I didn’taskyou. I amorderingyou to bring her back! Stop being this goddamn stubborn.”
Magnus stopped pacing. His eyes darkened.
“I know if you bring her back, you may have a chance to reconcile. But you never listen to me,” Camila pressed on. “What if she marries someone else? What if you regret this?”
Magnus stopped walking.
“I will never regret anything,” he said dismissively. His expression hardened, every trace of warmth draining from his face. “Stop overreacting.”
He adjusted the cuff of his sleeve with deliberate calm, as though discussing a minor business deal instead of his failed marriage.
“She enjoyed the wealth of our family. She enjoyed marrying into riches. The only thing she wanted was my money. Don’t you understand that? The moment she got the settlement, she ran away. She divorced me and walked away with a fortune.”
His grip on the phone tightened slightly.
“There is nothing left for her here. Did she ever ask you to help her reconcile with me?” he asked pointedly.
Silence.
Magnus’s lips curved into a faint, knowing smirk.
“That’s what I thought,” he said quietly, satisfaction flickering in his eyes. “If she wanted to come back, she would have said so.”
He exhaled sharply through his nose.
