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Chapter 8
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After Ten Years of Lies Chapter 10
The color drained out of her face. Her mouth opened clumsily and nothing came out that could have comforted anyone."Julian, you really won't give me one more chance? We were so happy once."I laughed, cold, and put a hole through the dream for her."Happy? Vivian, do you have any idea what my parents and I went through for that illness of yours? And every bit of it was for nothing."That wasn't happiness. That was the bone you throw a dog to keep it following you."She swayed on her feet like the words had weight.I had no interest in explaining anything else to her. Time was too valuable to spend on a person like this."If there's nothing else, go home. You're the Calder heir. You've got more important things waiting on you. You always did."What surprised me was that she looked straight at me without flinching, and what she said surprised me more."I've already transferred the succession. Calder Holdings isn't mine. It goes to my brother Ethan."Julian, I know the wager is
After Ten Years of Lies Chapter 9
Every person watching held their breath as Vivian picked up the call.The smile at the corner of her mouth deepened."I knew you'd call. I knew you still had me in there somewhere."She set the phone beside the microphone so the whole room could hear my voice."Congratulations on your wedding, Vivian."Her smile locked in place on camera, and for the first time in months I felt my own mouth twitch upward."I hope you and Felix have a long and happy marriage and a house full of children."I hope you both live to be a hundred."The silence swallowed the room whole, and what came after it was chaos nobody could have predicted.Vivian eventually called off the wedding before any vows were finished, walked every last guest out, and shut down the stream.The whole farce was the number one story on social media within the hour, and Calder Holdings' share price swung hard on the back of it.The rest of the company pushed her to get out in front of the story. She ignored all of them
After Ten Years of Lies Chapter 8
"And keep this in mind. She's my woman now."I laughed under my breath. The provocation didn't reach me."Vivian, I already told you it's finished between us. You don't owe me guilt. There isn't a thread connecting you and me anymore."I ended the call, snapped the SIM card in half, and dropped it in a trash can.I wanted a clean goodbye to my own past.Once Vivian understood I wasn't coming back, another idea took shape in her head.Before long, the news that she and Felix were throwing a world-class wedding had gone everywhere.Their happy photographs were on every screen and every billboard in the country, and even I saw them from the other side of the world.In every one of them Vivian nestled against Felix looking blissful, the kind of couple strangers call a match made in heaven.But my instincts told me that expression was something she'd put on.She pulled string after string to get an invitation into my hands. I tore it into confetti without reading a word.The man
After Ten Years of Lies Chapter 7
I got out of the car without hesitating, and no matter how she cried and screamed after me, I never turned around.Devotion that shows up this late doesn't repair anything.On the way, I called Felix and told him I was divorcing Vivian and getting out of her life."At least you've got enough sense to know your place. The way she carried on back there, I almost thought she'd fallen for you. I knew that couldn't be it."He laughed as long as he wanted. It went through me and left nothing behind."There's a condition. Get me a plane ticket and a job abroad. I want out of this country and away from Vivian for good."Felix agreed on the spot. He wanted me gone even more than I did.What happened at his birthday party had put real fear in him.Back at the house, I stood there looking at everything I knew, and it felt like I'd been away a hundred years.Everything was exactly where it had always been.And nothing was the same.I packed for the move and found there was almost nothin
After Ten Years of Lies Chapter 6
Whatever Felix reached for, he was reaching for a dead end.The guests around him went quietly rigid, and not one of them opened their mouth to warn him.Blindfolded, Felix couldn't sit still, and the back of his shirt went dark with sweat."Vivian, you can't do this to me. I'm the one you love. Everything I did, I did for you."This Julian is just the man you made the bet on. You don't have to go this far for him."Vivian wouldn't let it go. She made him choose. In the end he couldn't out-stubborn her, so he picked a capsule and swallowed it, believing he'd just taken a lethal dose.I watched it happen without a word, and Vivian turned to me with an apologetic smile."Does that make you feel a little better?"I nodded, calm on the surface. There were too many things moving inside me for any single one of them to reach my face.Vivian led me out of there full of apologies, promising she'd make it all up to me.In the car, a message from Felix came through, of all things."Ju
After Ten Years of Lies Chapter 5
Under Vivian's stare, Felix put on an ingratiating smile and signaled his men to drag me out of sight. One of them clamped a hand over my mouth so she wouldn't hear me."I was just waiting for you to get here for my birthday."The party isn't a party until you walk in."The room chimed in on cue, everybody congratulating the two of them like a celebrated couple.Something twisted in me and I fought hard enough to bite down on the hand over my mouth.Blood ran over the man's fingers and he let go with a yelp.I shouted Vivian's name with everything I had left."Vivian! I'm over here. Help me!"She turned. Her expression froze, and for one second she looked like something carved out of stone."Julian? Why are you here? Weren't you supposed to be picking up my medicine?"Something dark passed through Felix's eyes, but he recovered fast.Right in front of me, he took Vivian's hand and made his voice earnest."Vivian, this is my present to you."You never have to keep up that t
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