Chapter: 124: Breaking Point ( Robert POV)I couldn't get in to see Mia.Security turned me away at the hospital room door. Following her orders. No visitors except approved personnel.I wasn't approved."Please," I told the guard. "Just five minutes. I need to know she's okay.""I have my orders, Mr. Lud.""I'm her husband.""Not according to the paperwork she filed."I spent the night in the waiting room. Victoria brought coffee at two AM. Told me to go home. I refused.By morning, they discharged Mia. Collins picked her up. I watched from the parking garage as he helped her into his car. Careful. Attentive. Everything I should have been.She didn't look back.I drove to the office. Buried myself in work I didn't care about. Tried to function while everything inside me screamed.Mia was pregnant with my baby. Sophia was lying about hers. And I was trapped between both situations with no way to prove the truth.Something had to break.Someone had to break.I left work at noon. Drove to the Wealth estate. Didn't
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-11-16
Chapter: 123 : Hospital (Mia POV)I woke to beeping machines and antiseptic smell.Hospital. I was in a hospital.The last thing I remembered was the board meeting. Davidson's presentation about marketing demographics. Feeling dizzy. The room tilting.Then nothing."You're awake." A nurse appeared beside my bed. "How are you feeling?""Confused. What happened?""You collapsed. They brought you in about an hour ago." She checked my vitals. "The doctor will be in shortly to discuss everything.""I need to get back to work. I have meetings...""You're not going anywhere right now. Doctor's orders." She adjusted my IV. "Just rest."Rest. Like I had time for rest. The Chen acquisition needed oversight. Q2 projections needed approval. A hundred decisions waited for my signature."My phone. I need my phone.""Your assistant has it. She's in the waiting room with several other people who are very concerned about you."The door opened. A doctor entered. Older woman with kind eyes and a no-nonsense expression."Miss C
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-11-12
Chapter: 122: Watching (Robert POV)Working under Mia was torture.Not because she was incompetent. The opposite, actually. She was brilliant at running JR Investment. Made decisions faster than I ever had. Cut through bureaucracy that had bogged me down for years. Transformed the company in ways I'd been too cautious to attempt.The torture was being close enough to see her but too distant to reach her."Mr. Lud, Miss Cops needs the Chen acquisition report by noon," her assistant would say.Not Mia asking directly. Always through intermediaries. Always formal. Always distant.I'd deliver the reports. She'd review them without comment. Send back notes through email. It was professional yet cold. We'd been married. Shared a bed. Built a life together.Now I was just another employee."The restructuring proposal needs your signature," Victoria said, dropping files on my desk.My new office was smaller. Three floors down from the executive suite. Windows that faced another building instead of the city skyline
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-11-10
Chapter: 121: Power and Loneliness ( Mia POV)Being CEO of JR Investment was easier than expected.The board had resisted at first. Old men in expensive suits questioning my experience, my age, my qualifications. But money talked louder than their concerns. I controlled the shares. I'd paid Oscar's debt. They could fall in line or resign.Three of them resigned.I replaced them with younger executives. People hungry and innovative. People who didn't care that I was twenty or female or doing things differently than James Lud had for forty years.Within two weeks, I'd restructured three departments. Greenlit projects the old board had been stalling. Increased efficiency by cutting redundant positions that existed only to pad executive egos.The company was thriving under my leadership.So why did I feel so empty?I sat in the CEO's office at seven PM. Everyone else had gone home hours ago. Just me and the city lights through the floor-to-ceiling windows.My hand went to my stomach. Still mostly flat. The pregnancy barely
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-10-31
Chapter: 120: The Fall(Robert POV)The press conference was scheduled for Monday morning.Mia's team handled everything. Location. Invitations. Talking points. I wasn't consulted on any of it.Just informed where to be and when to arrive.The Plaza Hotel ballroom was packed with journalists. Camera crews. Industry analysts. Everyone who mattered in California's business world had shown up to watch the spectacle.The fall of Robert Lud.I stood backstage while Mia's assistant went over the schedule."Miss Cops will make the announcement. You'll stand beside her on stage. When she's finished, you'll shake her hand and exit stage left. No speaking. No questions. Is that clear?""Crystal.""Good. You're on in five minutes."I adjusted my tie. The suit felt too tight. Everything felt too tight. Like the walls were closing in and there was nowhere left to breathe.James found me in the green room."This is a disaster," he said without preamble."I know.""You should have fought her. Should have refused to sign t
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-10-30
Chapter: 119: The Deal(Mia POV)The lawyer called three days after I'd delivered the annulment papers."Miss Cops, we have a problem."I was in Collins's apartment, staring at a cup of tea I couldn't stomach. Morning sickness had evolved into all-day sickness. The pregnancy was making itself known in every possible way."What kind of problem?""Mr. Lud isn't signing. He's hired a legal team to fight the annulment. They're claiming the marriage became genuine. That you renewed vows voluntarily. That the contract was superseded by real commitment."I closed my eyes. Of course Robert was fighting. Of course he couldn't just let me go cleanly."How long will a contested annulment take?""Months. Maybe years if he's determined. And Miss Cops? He seems very determined.""Thank you. I'll handle it."I hung up and sat in silence.Months. Years. Tied to Robert legally while we destroyed each other in court. While lawyers got rich and the media had a field day. While I tried to hide a pregnancy that would become obv
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-10-30
Chapter: Chapter 4Elena.The Grand Ballroom glittered like a jewel box. I stood at the top of the sweeping staircase, looking down at hundreds of faces turned toward me. Crystal chandeliers cast golden light across the crowd. The string quartet played softly. Champagne glasses paused halfway to lips.Every eye in the room was on me.The emerald gown I wore was custom-made, floor-length silk that flowed like water when I moved. The exact shade of the Hartley family color. My hair fell in soft waves over one shoulder. The family diamonds glittered at my throat, my wrists, my ears. Each piece worth more than the penthouse I had scrubbed floors in just days ago.I was Elena Hartley again. Completely. And I wanted everyone to see it.I began my descent.Whispers followed me down each step. I caught fragments as I passed."Is that really her?""The Hartley daughter?""I thought she was gone.""Look at those diamonds."I spotted them all as I scanned the crowd. Damien near the entrance, frozen, his tux rumple
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-10-17
Chapter: Chapter 3Elena.At 6:55 AM, I stood before Hartley Tower and looked up. Eighty stories of glass and steel stretched into the morning sky, reflecting clouds and sunlight. The building seemed taller than I remembered, more imposing. Or maybe I had just forgotten what it felt like to stand here as myself.The Armani suit fit perfectly. Tailored, black, sharp. My hair was styled in a sleek bun. Diamond studs in my ears. Heels that added three inches to my height. I looked every inch the heiress I had been born to be.Three years ago, I had walked away from all of this. I could still remember that morning, standing in this exact spot, looking up at my family's empire and thinking love mattered more. That being Elena Wright, an ordinary wife, would make me happier than being Elena Hartley, a corporate heir.I had been so naive."Ms. Hartley."Two security guards stood at attention as I approached the entrance. They were new, faces I did not recognize, but they clearly knew mine."Welcome home, Ms. H
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-10-17
Chapter: Chapter 2Elena.I stood outside Lumière, watching through the tall glass windows. The restaurant glowed like a jewel box, with soft lighting and crystal chandeliers. Inside, at the corner table by the window, Damien sat across from Sophia Cornell.The corner table. The one I had suggested for our anniversary dinner months ago when I still believed he might remember.My hand tightened around my purse. Inside were the divorce papers I had signed an hour ago. My only decent dress hung loose on my body. Three years old, black, simple. I had not bought new clothes since the wedding. There had never been money for me.Part of me wanted to turn around. Walk away. Let him have his dinner with his first love, and live his life without me.But I needed this. Closure. An ending I chose.I took a breath and pushed open the door.The warmth inside hit me first, then the quiet murmur of expensive conversation. Classical music played softly in the background. The hostess looked up from her podium, her smile
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-10-17
Chapter: Chapter1Elena.The marble floor was cold beneath my knees. I scrubbed harder, watching soap suds swirl across the pristine white surface, catching the early morning light filtering through the penthouse windows. Six AM on a Wednesday. My third wedding anniversary.I paused, catching my reflection in the wet marble. The woman staring back looked tired. I barely recognized her anymore.Three years ago, I had been different. Confident and alive. I touched my cheek, remembering how I used to smile without forcing it."Elena!"I flinched. Catherine Wright's voice cut through the quiet like a blade."Yes, Mother Catherine?" I stood quickly, nearly knocking over the bucket.She swept into the living room, silk robe trailing behind her. Her eyes scanned the floor with the precision of a general inspecting troops. "You missed a spot. There. By the window."I looked. There was no spot."I'll get it right away.""See that you do." She settled onto the cream sofa, pulling out her phone. "I have guests co
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-10-17
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