Regretting The Wife He Threw Away

"Holy crap!" James shot to his feet, eyes wide with surprise. "It really is you!"

Briony nodded. "Yeah. Honestly, if I hadn't seen that competition video of Ottilie, I probably would have forgotten all about it."

"Forgotten what?"

"I started writing my own music when I was about twelve or thirteen. My grandfather bought me a notebook, and I filled it with all my compositions— probably a dozen or so. After Grandpa passed away, the Kensingtons took me back in, and I brought the notebook with me."

James settled back onto the couch, still processing. "So... Ottilie stole your notebook?"

"When the Kensingtons kicked me out, they wouldn't let me take a single thing- not even my clothes. Of course the notebook stayed behind."

James frowned. "Then Ottilie must have only found it recently. If the Kensingtons were as ambitious as we know they are, and they wanted to use your music to make Ottilie famous, why wait until now?"

"That's what I thought too," Briony replied. "Ottilie probably noticed Rosita's comeback lately and used the notebook to negotiate a deal with her. That's how their collaboration happened."

"Unbelievable. They've got some nerve," James muttered, still indignant. "So what are you going to do? You can't just let Rosita and Ottilie get away with stealing your work."

"Of course not," Briony said with a small, confident smile. "But there's no rush. I'll wait until the day Ottilie wins the final. That's when I'll expose both of them myself."

"I like that plan," James said, nodding. "But how will you prove those songs are yours?"

"They're my songs. Trust me, I have ways," Briony replied, her lips curling into a sly smile. "Don't worry, I've already got it all planned out."

If you're that confident, I'll

James made their way back

Stewart had already arrived.

he'd hired from a five-star

hosting dinner tonight; from ingredients to the cooking

returned a little earlier and was sitting in the living room, playing

asked where

explained

chef over,

then stepped out

James snorted. "Frankly, I hope he

few toy boxes sat on the coffee table, clearly gifts for Little

glanced at them briefly, her expression

easy, decided

to show up with

with Ferdinand came Garry, little Mario, and

He

gave an apologetic