LOGINI had a fever, so I boiled myself an egg. I didn’t expect my son to come home and call the police. “There’s a thief in our house,” he told them, dead serious. “She stole one of my eggs.” The officers thought it was a joke. Evan didn’t. “Ms. Blake gave me those eggs. They’re imported. She stole from me, so she should be arrested.” Then he looked at me like I was a stranger. “Mom’s just lazy. She’s pretending to be sick. No wonder Dad likes spending time with Ms. Blake.” I bit down hard to keep from crying. It didn’t help. To him, my silence was proof I was guilty. “Ms. Blake said people who do bad things always act pitiful,” he added coldly. When my husband got home, he didn’t even ask how I was. “You sit around all day and still say you’re sick? Sounds like you just have too much time to be dramatic. If you were half as thoughtful as Sophie, I wouldn’t be this exhausted.” I almost laughed. When I had a 102-degree fever, he said the clinic was too expensive. But when his secretary mentioned her villa felt a little cold, he signed a thirty-million-dollar contract without hesitation. He was never stingy. Just never with me. That was the moment I stopped caring. That night, I stared at the message my father had sent me. And made a decision. Tomorrow, I was going home, not as his wife, not as anyone’s mother, but as the heiress I had always been.
View MoreI didn’t walk over.I turned and entered the venue.That day, I wore a tailored suit and the pearl necklace my mother had left me.When I presented my project on stage, the room erupted into applause.Back in the Cole family, I could only wear plain dresses to attend events with Adrian.Now, standing on a stage that belonged to me, I finally became the woman I was meant to be.Sophie didn’t end well either.After Adrian went bankrupt, she took the last few hundred thousand left in the company account and tried to flee the country.She was stopped at customs.I heard that when she was arrested, she kept insisting Adrian had forced her.No one believed her anymore.On the day of the divorce hearing, Adrian finally signed.He sat in the defendant’s seat, his face hollow, his eyes dull.The arrogance he once had was gone.When the judge asked if he agreed to the divorce, he looked at me, his voice hoarse.“Vanessa… I know I was wrong. Can you give me one more chance?”I shook my head.“Adr
I lowered my gaze and looked at his tear-streaked face.For a brief moment, it felt like something sharp pricked deep inside my chest.That face still carried traces of the little boy I had once protected day and night.When he had a fever as a toddler, I held him outside the emergency room, shivering in the cold.When he scraped his knee learning to ride a bike, I blew gently on the wound and coaxed him not to cry.But those memories faded almost as quickly as they came.What remained was the coldness he had shown me.I reached down and gently pried his hands off my skirt.My voice was calm. Steady.“Evan, I didn’t leave because of you.“But you need to understand something.“When you do something wrong, there are consequences.”He froze, as if he didn’t understand.Then panic rushed into his eyes, and he tried to cling to me again.“Mom, I’ll change. I’ll listen to you every day from now on. I won’t make you angry again.”My father rested a hand lightly on my shoulder. His eyes were
Adrian’s face turned red, then white, but he still stiffened his neck and argued.“We’re talking about your affair right now.“Why are you dragging me into it?”I was too tired to argue with him.“You still don’t know, do you?“This is my father, the CEO of Sterling Group.“And I am his only daughter.”Adrian froze.The cold smile on my face deepened.First, he shook his head hard, as if he had heard the most ridiculous joke in the world.“You’re lying. How could you be the Sterling heiress?“The heir to Sterling Group wouldn’t spend her days at the stove wearing cheap cotton T-shirts.”His fists clenched. Resistance filled his eyes, as if the truth would disappear as long as he refused to believe it.But the next second, his gaze drifted to the custom dress I was wearing. Then he seemed to remember something, and his face went instantly white.The memory of our first meeting ten years ago seemed to come back to him.I had just returned from abroad then, wearing Chanel’s limited spring
My father’s fingers locked around Adrian’s wrist like iron.Adrian grimaced in pain, but he still refused to back down. He craned his neck and shouted, “Who the hell are you? How dare you interfere in Cole family business? Believe me, I can make sure you can’t stay in this city.”Then his eyes swept over my father’s custom suit and the seven-figure Patek Philippe on his wrist. Something seemed to click.He struggled twice and failed to break free, so he started cursing instead.“You old bastard. Who do you think you are? You think a little money gives you the right to steal another man’s wife?“You’ve lived this long and still don’t know shame.“A woman like Vanessa, who only knows how to cook and do laundry, was only worth marrying because I was blind back then. And now you’re treating my leftovers like treasure?”Spittle flew from his mouth. He didn’t notice the disgusted looks from the staff around us.“Let go of me right now, or I’ll make sure this lousy mall of yours shuts down.”






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