CHAPTER 6 ~ The Woman They Replaced

{Alora’s POV}

~ 5 Days Later ~

I did not usually attend the company’s anniversary.

That was the understanding between Victor and me— unspoken but firm. These events belonged to the company now, not to the woman who had once built it and then stepped away. I stayed home. He went alone. It had been that way for years.

But this time was different.

Victor left early that morning without mentioning it. No reminder. No dismissal. Just absence. And I did not stop him to ask.

I already knew why I was going.

I dressed carefully. Not elegantly or provocatively. Just neatly, deliberately, like someone who still belonged to herself. As I fastened my coat, I looked at my reflection and saw what Victor believed he had reduced me to.

Quiet. Uninformed. Contained.

He was wrong.

The venue glowed when I arrived— glass, steel, money polished into beauty. Music drifted through open doors and laughter followed it. I walked in unnoticed, and for a moment that alone felt like confirmation of how completely I had been erased.

No one stopped me.

No one recognized me.

Inside, the company looked familiar in the way a childhood home looks familiar after strangers have redecorated it. New branding. New faces— Old foundations wearing a different name.

People passed me without a glance.

“She’s practically running the place now,” someone said near the bar.

“The Boss made the right call,” another replied. “It’s smoother.”

I stared, a bit confused. I did not know what they were talking about so I did not ponder it.

I moved farther into the room, standing near the back where shadows softened the light. My hands were steady. My breathing calm. I told myself this was just another room, another crowd.

Then the host stepped onto the stage.

“Good evening,” he said brightly. “Tonight we celebrate ten years of vision, resilience, and leadership.”

Applause rose instantly.

I didn’t clap. Instead, my gaze drifted to the side of the stage as I knew what came next. I had helped plan events like this once so I knew how every pause worked, how every moment was designed to build anticipation.

“And now,” the host continued, pausing just long enough to build anticipation, “please welcome the man who made it all possible— our CEO…”

The host paused as he wasn’t done speaking… and the he continued. 

“…and his wife.”

The words landed before the image.

My chest hollowed out in a way that felt physical and just then, Victor walked onto the stage, confident as ever. His suit fit perfectly while his smile came easily. 

He looked like a man exactly where he intended to be. And beside him—

Anna.

My heart staggered and stung while my body froze. 

She stepped forward with Victor, her posture composed, her expression warm and controlled. Their hands were linked.

The dress she wore was elegant and familiar. I realized I had helped her choose it once.

The crowd applauded harder now. Phones lifted. Faces turned toward the stage with approval, not curiosity. No one whispered. No one questioned.

This was not a revelation to them.

It was an announcement and I thought this was as worse as it could get. 

Then my son appeared…

He trailed after them calmly, obediently, stopping where he was guided. He did not scan the crowd. He did not look for me…

He stood with them like he belonged there and taking the sight in, something inside me cracked— not loudly, not visibly, but completely.

I remained where I was, horrified, as applause thundered and the image settled into place. Victor, Anna, my child. A family assembled without me.

Around me, the murmurs began.

“I thought the boss’s wife couldn’t speak.”

“She disappeared years ago, didn’t she?”

“I heard she helped start the company.”

“Well, clearly not anymore.”

A man laughed softly then. “Who’d want a wife like that anyway?”

My throat burned.

I tried to speak, tell them they were wrong, but nothing came.

Victor began his speech now— words about growth, stability, the future. I barely heard him. My teary eyes stayed on Anna as she smiled at the right moments, nodded when appropriate, accepted the applause like it had always belonged to her.

This wasn’t an affair exposed.

This was a replacement completed.

When the speech ended and Victor cleared the stage to carry on with his night, I moved forward.

I would go and confront him still

I didn’t rush now. Neither did I hesitate. I walked with the calm of someone who had already lost everything and therefore had nothing left to protect. There were tears in my eyes but then I wiped them off.

Victor saw me then.

For a brief moment— just one, something flickered across his face. Recognition. Calculation… and then it was gone.

I halted and we stood a few feet apart, surrounded by noise, light and people pretending not to watch.

I lifted my hands. This was the hardest part; not being able to express myself fluently even when I had a lot to say. 

>You planned this.<

Victor glanced at my fingers, then away. “This isn’t the place. Do yourself a favor and leave. Besides, you shouldn’t be here.” He told me. 

I knew of his cruelty after almost being raped at the location he sent me, but hearing him speak this way now still stung me.

There was no single hint of remorse in his voice, butt ignored that disappointment and signed again. 

>You sent me away. You replaced me!<

Anna joined then and my gaze was forced to shift to her as she held Noah in her hand. They both stopped at an angle around Victor and seeing how indifferent Noah was about coming up to meet me broke me. 

Tears brimmed in my eyes again and then there was Anna’s satisfied expression to tear me down even more.

“I took you as a sister.” I signed but then she raised a hand to stop me.

“Don’t bother. I never really understood you.” She said dismissively.

And then Victor called back my attention. “We’re done, Alora.”

The words were raw. Final.

I didn’t get the chance to reach as I watched him turn to Anna who handed him a folder which he collected and stretched out to me. 

“Everything’s in there,” he said. “Sign and this ends cleanly.”

I stared in disbelief, but then I took the envelope and opened it with numb fingers.

Divorce papers.

Custody arrangements.

Conditions.

I looked up at him, the disbelief tightening my chest.

>Our son— <

Victor didn’t let me finish.

“Children need stability,” he said calmly. “Consistency. Representation.”

Stability. 

I stared at him.

He leaned closer, lowering his voice so only I could hear.

“If you cooperate, you can walk away quietly and access to him,”

A pause.

“But if you don’t, things get… complicated.”

I understood.

This wasn’t a threat shouted in anger. It was a fact delivered with precision.

I closed the folder.

Anna spoke then. “You can leave.” She said and it wasn’t exactly her words that stung. It was the fact that she said it without any drop of guilt. 

With that, Security appeared and firm hands guided me toward the exit. No one protested. No one intervened.

Tears resurfaced and then I was thrown to the ground, thrown out of the company I built.

The night air hit me hard but I didn’t let the tears flow out. 

Instead, I chose strength and tried to rise to my feet, but then my cruel fate had more surprises for me.

The night felt suddenly too loud, too sharp. My pulse thundered in my ears and just then, I threw up violently. 

It was odd and it was not supposed to be a big deal if not for the fact that, during wiping my mouth and recovering, I pieced the pieces together.

I wasn’t the type that threw up for any reason. And I wasn’t sick so…

My hand moved instinctively to my stomach and I froze.

No…

I settled back on the ground as realization pressed down on me.

I wasn’t ill. I wasn’t irritated.

I was pregnant— with a stranger’s baby.