Daisy’s POV I can’t believe what I just heard. My ears were ringing, and my heart was beating so fast, I thought it might burst out of my chest. Hazel… Like my Hazel, who has been by my side for years, who I trusted more than anyone else, was working for Anna this entire time? No. No. No, it couldn’t be true. But the evidence was right in front of me. The truth stared me in the face like a ghost from the past. I loved Hazel. She was like a sister to me. I shared my secrets with her. She saw me cry, panic, laugh, and fall apart. She was the one who held my hand when I felt like I couldn’t breathe. She was the one who told me it was going to be okay. Was that all a lie? Did Anna plan every single part of it? Every comforting word, every hug, every time Hazel stood by me. Was that just part of some twisted mission? I felt like such a fool. How could I be so stupid? So trusting? I always want to believe the best
Daisy’s POVFor the past few weeks, work has been nothing short of unbearable. I’ve had to sit in board meetings, pretending everything was fine, smiling politely at people who had once been part of the team that ruined my life. The kind of emotional strength it takes to sit across a table from the very people you wish you could erase from your life? It’s the kind you don’t read about in self-help books. It’s the kind you only learn when life drags you face-first through the mud.Honestly, I should probably feel angry, or betrayed, or maybe even sad. But the truth is, I’m just too tired for any of that. I’m numb. Completely drained. Like I’m moving through life with a fog over my eyes. It feels like everything around me is slowly falling apart. And Liam? Let’s not even go there. He still refuses to sign the divorce papers. It’s like he’s holding on for dear life to a marriage that has already died a slow, painful death.“One day at a time,” I muttered under my breath as I opened the c
Sandra’s POVOne Month Later“Oh my gosh, babe. This is so fancy,” Blaire said, her eyes wide like a child in a candy store. She walked slowly around my office, running her fingers lightly across the edge of the glass table, eyeing the velvet chairs, the golden lamp, and the massive window that overlooked the city like a queen watching over her kingdom.Well, as much as I hated to admit it out loud, Liam’s country bumpkin of a wife still had a bit of taste. Not great, but enough to notice good things when she saw them. Too bad all of this is mine now.All of it.She paused and turned to look at me with a playful smile. “So what you’re telling me is... you own all of this?” she said, waving her hand around again as if trying to understand the reality of it. “This is your office?”There was something in her tone. Maybe I was overthinking it, but it almost felt like she was mocking me. Like she still couldn’t believe that someone like me could end up in a place like this. Maybe deep down
Daisy’s POV“So… you’re saying Liam’s dad killed my father?” I asked, my voice low, my mind racing. I felt like my heart had just dropped into my stomach. Everything inside me froze. It was hard to understand, to even begin to process what I’d just been told.Hazel paused for a long moment. I could hear her breathing on the other end of the line, like she didn’t want to say the next part out loud. Finally, she spoke. “Not exactly,” she said slowly, carefully. “I said he’s a person of interest. A possible suspect. But Daisy… there’s something else you need to know about Liam.”I didn’t answer right away. A chill ran through my entire body like a wave, and I hugged myself with one arm. My other hand held my phone tighter than it needed to. I tried to be strong. I was wired that way—built for pain, used to bad news—but this? This felt different. Worse. Personal.I forced myself to speak, though my voice came out sharper than I intended. “What?”My chest was pounding hard, so hard I could
Daisy’s POVIt was one thing to bottle up my feelings at the office, to keep my face straight, to pretend I wasn’t breaking inside but it was another thing entirely when I got home. When I stepped inside, closed the door behind me, and there were no more eyes watching, no more expectations to meet. That’s when the tears came rushing in like a flood.It wasn’t just sadness. It was pain, betrayal, disappointment… the feeling of having your whole world ripped from under your feet in one single day.Liam had offered to stay the night. He asked if I needed company or if I wanted to talk. But the truth was, I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t want company. I just needed space. My space. A moment to breathe. To cry. To scream if I wanted. A place to let the tension out, to think, to plan what came next.I curled up in my bed with a box of tissues beside me. My eyes were sore and heavy. The pillows were already soaked with tears. I wished the pain could just leave as easily as the tears fell. But
Daisy’s POV“You have five minutes to clear your stuff out of my office. Otherwise, you’ll be seeing them in the trash. Consider this my first and last act of kindness towards my dear sister.”The way Sandra laughed after saying that wasn’t funny at all. It was cruel. Cold. The kind of laugh that made your skin crawl. And the worst part is, it didn’t even surprise me. What still shocked me was how the board members chose her over me. Sandra. Of all people.After everything I’ve done for this company, for this family… they still pushed me aside like I was nothing. Like all my sacrifices, all my hard work meant absolutely zero.Thank God for Liam. If it weren’t for him, I’m not sure how I’d even be standing here right now. He held my hand as I walked back into the office—my office. Or at least, it used to be.I stepped in slowly, my eyes scanning the room like I was seeing it for the first time. But every corner held a memory. The couch by the window where I used to take breaks, the des