LOGINFive years ago, I was his life and I thought we would be the end game until Rosalin, his new assistant, seeped into our life. It began with urgent late night meetings. Our dinner conversations, once filled with shared secrets and soft laughter, were replaced by the rhythmic tapping of his thumbs against his phone. He stopped looking at me across the table, his gaze permanently fixed on the glowing screen as he replied to her "emergency" texts. When I’d walk into his office, the air would turn brittle. He’d stop talking mid-sentence, Rosalin leaning over his shoulder with a look that wasn't professional. But the breaking point was when he left me waiting for six hours on our anniversary Gala to celebrate Rosaline’s birthday. “We got occupied with something, Victoria.” He said, “Rosaline has brought cake for you. It was her birthday as well.” Just then a notification came into my phone. It was Rosaline’s post. She had posted a picture minutes before entering the gala. She was sitting in a seven-star hotel, the one I asked Jayden to book for our Anniversary but he refused after saying it was full. She had been cutting her birthday cake surrounded by red candles’ flames and a pair of hands had cupped hers. Jayden’s hands. He had ghosted our Anniversary Gala to celebrate Rosaline’s birthday! That was when I realised, I had no future with this man. I will disappear from his world, taking his child with me.
View MoreEight Months laterThe ink on the birth certificate was dry before the first rays of the morning sun hit the private wing of the Moretti-Lightwood hospital. Marcus sat in the chair beside my bed, his tailored jacket discarded, his shirtsleeves rolled up to reveal the faint white lines of old scars on his forearms. He was cradling the bundle in his arms with a tenderness that would have shocked the boardrooms of the city."He has your chin,"Marcus whispered, looking down at the baby. "But he has my calm. He hasn't cried once.""Thats because he knows he's safe,"I replied, my voice raspy but full.The peace was shattered by the rhythmic, heavy tread of footsteps in the hallway. I didn't need to look at the door to know who it was. The desperate, frantic energy of Jayden Thorne was as recognizable as a foul odor.The door swung open, and Jayden burst in, flanked by a lawyer who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. Jayden looked worse than he had at the wedding; his prestige was er
The burner phone in my hand felt like a live wire, humming with the persistent, aggressive vibration of Jayden’s incoming calls. Each time his name flashed across the screen, it felt like a ghost trying to claw its way back into the living world.I didn't answer. I didn't even hesitate.With a numb finger, I tapped his contact and hit Block. Then I moved to his social media, his WhatsApp, and even the professional email I had used for estate business. One by one, I severed the digital threads that tied us together.For months, he had treated me like a piece of furniture—something expected to be there, silent and supportive, while he paraded his mistress in front of the world. Now that I was "in the arms" of the one man who could actually dismantle his empire, he suddenly remembered how to dial my number?A text message from an unknown number pushed through just before I could power the device down:[Victoria, please. The photo—I know it’s not what it looks like. I was angry. I was stup
The next morning, I needed air. I threw on a trench coat and a pair of dark sunglasses, heading to a secluded botanical garden on the edge of the estate grounds—a place Jayden would never think to look.I was standing by a pond, watching the gold scales shimmer beneath the surface, when a shadow fell over me."The water is peaceful, but it hides the predators well, doesn't it?"I spun around. Standing there was a man I hadn't seen before. He was taller than Jayden, his presence commanding and slate-gray eyes piercing. He wasn't wearing a tuxedo or any suit; he was in a simple black sweater, looking more like a philosopher than a businessman."Marcus?" I breathed, my heart skipping a beat. My mother had pushed his picture before me when I was reading newspapers. That was why I could recognise him even though we never met."What are you doing here?""I could ask you the same," he said, a ghost of a smile touching his lips. There was a brief moment of pause between us. He was the one who
Victoria’s POVThe iron gates of the Moretti estate creaked open, a sound that usually signaled a homecoming. To me, it felt like a sanctuary finally coming back into view after a year in the wilderness. I parked the car, my hands still trembling as I gripped the steering wheel.My mother was already on the porch, her silk shawl fluttering in the night breeze. The moment I stepped out of the car, the "Mafia Queen" mask I had worn for Jayden shattered."Victoria?" she whispered, her eyes widening at my disheveled hair and the midnight blue gown that now felt like a funeral shroud.I didn't speak. I couldn't. I simply walked into her arms and let out a sob that had been clawing at my throat since I saw Jayden on that television screen. She held me with a strength that only a mother possesses, her hand stroking my hair as my father appeared in the doorway, his face darkening with a silent, protective fury.“Look how broken you are!” My mother said, “If we had known he was treating you thi












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