Even after it disappeared from sight, he was still staring in that direction.
His face had become terrifyingly dark.
***
Amara stepped inside the luxurious apartment, pausing briefly near the entrance as her eyes swept across the familiar space.
Dark wooden flooring stretched across the massive space while deep red and white walls gave the apartment a rich and elegant atmosphere. Floor-to-ceiling windows displayed the dazzling Manhattan skyline outside, the glittering high-rise buildings glowing beautifully against the evening sky.
This apartment had been a graduation gift from her mother years ago, back when she had just finished college.
Since it had been left empty for so long, she had allowed Jasper to stay there. But now that she had left Elias’s house, she had already moved her bags into the second bedroom, quietly settling in as Jasper’s flatmate.
Walking back inside the apartment felt like stepping into a forgotten version of herself.
A version that existed before Elias.
Before marriage.
Before heartbreak.
As Amara stepped farther into the living room with Jasper beside her, her gaze immediately landed on the figure sprawled comfortably across the couch.
“Juliet?” she asked in surprise.
The moment Jasper spotted Juliet, excitement immediately flashed across his face.
Without hesitation, he rushed forward dramatically and threw himself down onto the couch beside her. One hand pushed back his messy curls while the other lightly smacked Juliet on the back.
“Yo,” he grinned.
The force almost made her fall sideways. She instantly turned toward him with a murderous glare.
“One day, I’m seriously going to punch you in the face,” she snapped irritably.
She grabbed the magazine beside her and smacked it down onto the table before glaring harder at Jasper.
Jasper only grinned shamelessly in response.
Then both of them turned toward Amara.
Amara slowly walked forward before sinking tiredly into the couch across from them. The exhaustion on her face became more obvious the second she finally relaxed against the cushions.
A long breath escaped her lips as she leaned her head back briefly.
“How did it go?” Juliet immediately asked, leaning forward slightly. “Was there any problem with the divorce terms? Did he try to stop you?”
Before Amara could answer, Jasper suddenly burst out laughing.
“Absolutely not,” he said lazily, stretching one arm across the back of the couch. “And even if her husband tried to stop her, it’s not like she’d change her mind now.”
He waved his hand dramatically toward Amara.
“Look at her.”
Amara had already changed clothes after leaving the funeral. The heavy black funeral dress was gone, replaced by a softer black dress that stopped at her thighs, elegant yet relaxed. Her makeup had faded slightly after the exhausting day, but it only made her look more beautiful and tired at the same time. She looked completely different from the fragile woman Elias was used to seeing.
After leaving the cemetery, she had stopped at her parents’ house to change before heading to the Hawk Industries to deal with work matters. The day had passed by in a blur before she knew it.
