THE DIVORCE GAMBIT From Dumped Wife to CEO's Forever novel Chapter 35

The longer Alaina waited, the more anxious she became. She was tempted to just kick down the door and rush inside to see how her brother was doing.

Skyler, on the other hand, remained calm as ever. He pulled out his phone. "Mom, relax. I'll call Assistant Blake and find out what's going on! Uncle's always running around like a headless chicken—he's probably stuck in a meeting right now."

But just as he dialed Assistant Blake's number, the door swung open from the inside.

Standing in the doorway was none other than Gordon himself.

"Alaina? Skyler? What are you two doing here?"

Clearly surprised to see them, Gordon raised an eyebrow. Usually, the siblings only met at the family estate—Alaina never once visited his apartment on her own. This was definitely a first.

"Why didn't you answer the door?" Alaina let out a relieved sigh when she saw her brother was fine, though her tone was laced with mock annoyance.

She'd nearly had a heart attack, convinced something awful had happened to him.

"I was in the shower. Left my phone outside, so I didn't hear it ring," Gordon explained.

Fresh from the shower, Gordon was dressed in a black silk bathrobe, his hair still damp with droplets of water tracing down his neck and disappearing beneath the robe's loosely tied collar. The robe hung just low enough to reveal a hint of chiseled abs and the classic broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted physique that would make any runway model green with envy.

Skyler turned to Alaina, "See, Mom? I told you Uncle was fine. But you never believe me—do you believe me now?"

Alaina delivered a swift kick to his shin. "Less talking, more carrying! Take those groceries I bought into the kitchen."

Then she glanced at Gordon. "Go dry your hair before you catch a cold. I'll get started on dinner."

"Dinner?" Gordon shot his sister a skeptical look, his eyes full of doubt. "Are you sure anything you make is actually edible?"

This was the sister who'd been pampered her entire life—she'd never so much as boiled water, let alone cooked a meal.

"What, you think I can't cook? Just wait, I'm about to blow your mind with my culinary skills!" With that, Alaina rolled up her sleeves and marched toward the kitchen. "Skyler! Get in here and help me!"

An hour later.

Finding someone on par with Jasper was hard enough—someone better was out of the question.

Jasper had been Victor's last ace in the hole. Now that Jasper had jumped ship to The Chandler Group, Victor was like a trapped animal with nowhere to run.

No one believed Victor could pull off a AAA game now.

All hopes rested with The Chandler Group.

"Who says a cornered beast can't fight back?" Gordon tapped his fingers on the desk. "That's all for today. Meeting adjourned."

After he closed his laptop, the executives exchanged bewildered looks.

A cornered beast, still able to fight back? How was that possible?

"What do you think Master Ninth meant by that? He can't really be considering Apex, can he? They haven't even managed to submit a proposal on time."