"Yes," Audrey cried out, meeting his deep thrusts with a fierce, answering rhythm. "I love you, Simon."
He moved with a desperate, agonizingly beautiful rhythm, driven by a love that had been stripped down to its very foundation and rebuilt stronger. He watched her eyes flutter, watched the way her beautiful face tightened with blinding pleasure as her nails scraped down the hard muscles of his back.
He chased her over the edge, feeling the beautiful, shattering clench of her release around him. Her soft, breathless cry of his name echoed in the quiet room, and it was the only permission he needed. Simon completely surrendered, pouring himself into her with a final, deep thrust, burying his face in her dark hair as his entire body shuddered with the blinding force of his climax.
When the frantic, blinding high finally subsided, a beautiful, heavy peace settled over Simon’s mind for the first time in a year.
He collapsed beside her, his chest heaving, and immediately pulled her flush against his side. Audrey rested her head on his chest, her bare leg thrown over his. Simon wrapped his arm securely around her waist, holding her tightly as he listened to the rapid, thundering beat of his own heart slowly returning to normal.
He pressed a long, tender kiss to the top of her head, closing his eyes as he inhaled the sweet, familiar scent of her.
Simon lay tangled with his wife in the dark, absolutely exhausted, but profoundly, undeniably whole.
Chapter 46
Simon
The heavy oak doors of Jerome Carter’s downtown law office closed with a solid, definitive thud.
Simon sat across from his attorney’s massive mahogany desk, the sprawling view of the city skyline entirely ignored. It had been a few weeks since that agonizing weekend in the guest house—the weekend he had unleashed hell on Emily Hayes and waited in the suffocating silence for Audrey’s verdict. Now, with his marriage beautifully, miraculously healing, he was here to permanently bury the past.
Jerome adjusted his glasses, sliding a thick, pristine manila folder across the polished desk.
"It's done, Simon," Jerome said, his voice carrying the calm, clinical efficiency of a man who destroyed lives for a living. "The ink is dry, and the docket is permanently sealed. Not a single word of this will ever see the public light or the press."
Simon didn't open the folder immediately. He kept his dark eyes locked on his lawyer. "Walk me through it. I want to know exactly what happened."
Jerome leaned back in his leather chair, folding his hands. "As you requested, we hit her with the legal equivalent of a tactical nuke. The courier served her the papers at noon that Saturday. By 12:45 PM, David had completely locked her out of the Lumière servers and terminated her employment. When she tried to access her corporate email to retaliate, she hit a firewall."
Simon’s jaw tightened. "Did she try to fight the restraining order?"
"She hired a budget defense attorney by Monday morning, intending to claim it was a consensual workplace relationship," Jerome scoffed lightly. "But her lawyer took one look at the felony distribution charge for the audio file and told her to surrender. She realized very quickly that you weren't bluffing, Simon. Distributing non-consensual, sexually explicit audio is a fast track to a state penitentiary. When we offered her a settlement that kept her out of a prison cell, she took it without a second thought."
Jerome tapped the folder. "Inside is the permanent, lifetime restraining order. She is legally barred from coming within five hundred yards of you, Audrey, or Lily. She has signed an ironclad Non-Disclosure Agreement. Furthermore, as part of the settlement to drop the felony charges, she surrendered her personal phone and laptop to our forensic tech team. The audio file has been permanently, irretrievably scrubbed from her devices and any cloud backups. It no longer exists."
A profound, staggering wave of relief washed over Simon’s chest. The weapon Emily had forged to destroy his wife was completely eradicated.
"Where is she now?" Simon asked, his voice entirely devoid of pity.
"Gone," Jerome stated simply. "Lumière flagged her termination as gross misconduct, which effectively blacklistedher from every major marketing agency in the state. She broke her apartment lease on Tuesday and moved back to the Midwest. You will never hear the name Emily Hayes again."
Simon finally looked down at the folder. He rested his hand heavily on the thick cardstock, feeling the tangible weight of his family's safety.
"Thank you, Jerome," Simon said, the quiet sincerity in his voice cutting through the clinical atmosphere of the office. "For protecting my wife."
"Just doing my job, Simon," Jerome nodded respectfully. "Now, onto the second piece of business. I have the final buyout paperwork for your partnership shares at Lumière. David signed his portion this morning."
Simon took the sleek black pen Jerome offered and signed his name on the dotted line without a single ounce of hesitation. He was leaving millions of dollars of future equity on the table, but he couldn't care less. He was amputating the infected limb. He refused to remain tied to the agency that had fostered his arrogance and nearly cost him his soul.
An hour later, Simon walked into the gleaming glass lobby of Lumière for the very last time to hand his corporate keycard over to security.
As he turned toward the exit, the private executive elevator dinged, and David stepped out into the lobby.
Simon stopped. The man walking toward him was a mere shadow of the slick, arrogant senior partner he used to be. David’s custom suit hung slightly loose on his frame, his face drawn and pale, dark circles bruised beneath his bloodshot eyes.
"Simon," David greeted, his voice hollow. He glanced at the security desk where Simon had just left his badge. "So, the buyout is official. You're really walking away."
"I am," Simon confirmed, his tone perfectly steady. "I signed the papers an hour ago."
