Now she realized it would mean nothing.
“Isabella Ricci?” Eleanor asked calmly. “The movie star?”
“She understands how this world works.” Julian pushed a check across the desk. “One million dollars. That’s more than generous. Sign the divorce papers, take the money, and disappear. I don’t want complications. I definitely don’t want reporters seeing you. Honestly… your simplicity has become depressing.”
His words hung in the room like frost.
Eleanor looked down at the check.
To Julian, she was simply a bad investment—something outdated and replaceable. What he didn’t know was that the name Vance on her birth certificate was anything but ordinary. She was the only granddaughter of Magnus Vance, the legendary steel magnate whose company had built half the skyline Julian admired.
She had walked away from that fortune years ago, determined to find love without the influence of wealth.
Julian had proven her wrong.
Eleanor picked up the pen.
Her hand remained steady.
“I don’t want your money, Julian,” she said, sliding the check back. “But I will sign. Just remember something—steel is made stronger in fire, but it shatters when struck without warmth.”
Julian laughed dismissively. “Very dramatic. Goodbye, Eleanor.”
She signed the divorce papers and left the building.
