When Love Turns to Ashes Chapter 11

The airport? Never coming back?

Victoria immediately had people check flight manifests while using her connections to access divorce records.

The response came quickly: Ethan's flight had departed hours ago. Destination: Europe.

The courthouse records showed the divorce had been finalized days ago. The man had used that blank authorization document the woman had signed years earlier—legally binding.

Victoria stood frozen, ice-cold.

The blank document... that was something she'd given him years ago when she loved him desperately, representing infinite trust.

He'd treasured it, never using it.

Now, the first time he'd used it was to end their marriage!

A sense of being completely cut off, unilaterally expelled, crashed over her like venom eating her heart!

How dare he?! How could he be so absolute?!

While her mind reeled in chaos and rage, Luke came looking for her, carefully probing: "Victoria... I saw the news... you two... really divorced?"

Victoria forcibly suppressed that inexplicable emptiness and irritation, reaching out to hold him, deliberately keeping her voice steady: "Yeah. We're divorced."

Joy flashed quickly through Luke's eyes, but he immediately replaced it with worried concern: "Divorced... maybe it's for the best. Now we and the baby can be together openly. You don't have to feel torn anymore..."

He gently caressed Victoria's stomach. "It's just... I feel bad for Mr. Brooks..."

Victoria's heart felt like it had been pricked with a needle. She cut Luke off, her voice carrying an unconscious harshness: "There's nothing to feel bad about. When feelings are gone, separation is inevitable. I'll give you proper status."

To calm public opinion and stabilize the corporation's stock price, Victoria quickly called an emergency press conference.

At the conference, her face was cold, her words terse—just one brief statement:

"I, Victoria Hayes, and Mr. Ethan Brooks have mutually dissolved our marriage due to irreconcilable differences. After careful consideration, we have peacefully ended our relationship. Thank you for your concern. I will not be making further comments on this matter."

"Peacefully ended"? "Irreconcilable differences"?

These words formed a sharp contrast with Ethan's post about "falling for someone else," sparking even more speculation and discussion.

But Victoria used aggressive tactics to suppress all unfavorable reporting, steering public opinion toward "personality clash, amicable separation."

Victoria moved Luke into a prepared luxury penthouse in the elite district.

Everything there was brand new, decorated in Luke's preferred cozy style, without a single trace of Ethan.

Luke did indeed prove "domestic" as she'd hoped. He'd leave the lights on waiting for her return, serve warm stomach-soothing soup when she came home late from business dinners, carefully organize her clothes, speak in soft tones, never losing his temper.

This was supposedly the peaceful life she'd longed for, so different from the "walking on eggshells and carefully placating" dynamic with Ethan.

Yet somehow, Victoria found the enormous penthouse felt hollow, missing something.

That pervasive quiet made her feel inexplicably oppressed and... bored.

Especially late at night when handling business in her study, facing her computer screen, she'd find herself typing "Ethan Brooks" into the search bar almost involuntarily.

The page filled with news about him, old and new.