Once a Doormat Now Untouchable (Caleb and Sydney) novel Chapter 705

Diana returned to Seraph Villa with the signed agreement. The moment she stepped inside, she knew something was off.

She handed her coat to a staff member and glanced toward the sitting room.

Then she stopped.

The man wore a deep navy suit with a subtle woven pattern. The precise cut emphasized his broad shoulders and narrow waist. He moved through the room with the ease of someone raised to command it, a confidence so ingrained it no longer showed as effort.

If both his mind and private life were clean, he would have been an ideal match.

Florence saw her enter and waved her over. "Diana, Leon is in town on business. He still made time to come see you."

Diana had never told Florence she intended to divorce Leon. But Florence was her mother, perceptive enough to notice the shift in the marriage without being told.

Even so, she said nothing with Leon present. Diana's expression revealed nothing.

"He came to see you and your grandparents," Florence said.

The Hutton and Kingston families went back generations. Even after a divorce, ties like that did not simply disappear. And Leon, whatever else he was, had always known how to conduct himself in front of others.

He behaved as if nothing between them had changed.

"Diana, your mother's right. I came to see you." He spoke with every appearance of sincerity.

Florence rose smoothly, without drawing attention. "Well, I'm going upstairs for a rest. You two talk."

Diana watched her leave, then sat and accepted a cup of rose tea from the staff at just the right temperature. She took a small sip, set the cup down, and let her gaze fall to her watch with the unhurried precision of someone who had already made up her mind.

"Mr. Kingston, you're joking, of course."

She turned to the floor-length window and looked out at the Bentley Continental parked in the courtyard.

"You should get back to Brimcrest with Helen." Her voice remained even and cool.

Diana didn't acknowledge it. She stood and turned toward the stairs.

"Miss." A member of the household staff hurried down from the upper floor, visibly anxious. "Your grandfather is asking for you in the study."

Diana's gaze shifted briefly in the direction Leon had gone. Then she gave a short nod. "I'll be right there."

The study door stood half open. She knocked and found Albus already watching her.

His expression was unreadable, but the weight behind it was not. "I heard from the staff that Leon was here."

"He was." Diana lowered her eyes slightly. "He just left."

Albus watched her from the side. "Is it true you want a divorce? Whose idea was it?"

"Yes." A flicker of coldness passed through her eyes, gone before she fully raised them again. "Mine. Leon and that secretary of his are involved. If either of them had any sense, it might be something one could overlook. But they are both too reckless to end it. If I wait for it to blow up on its own, it could reflect badly on our family."