Chapter 32
Evan stepped out of Sterling Enterprises, the cold glass and steel of the lobby feeling like a monument to everything he had just lost. He walked with his figurative tail tucked between his legs, the weight of his shame making every step feel heavy and hollow. He had never felt so utterly defeated in his entire life.
It wasn’t just the shock of the blow; it was the betrayal of it. Not only did Serenity physically slap him across the face, which was humiliating in and of itself, but the true fracture came from his own blood. Eleanor, his grandmother, the woman who had shaped his world, had gone as far as to disown him, severing his identity in a single, cold sentence.
As he retreated, the air in the hallways felt thick with judgment. Word of Evan’s dismissal spread like wildfi
