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5| MY EX-WIFE? CAN’T BE!
Tanggal publikasi:
2026-03-25 15:48:44Cassian’s POV
My hands trembled as I stared at the countdown of the state infrastructure contract that was at zero. For eighteen months, I had bled for this. I had leveraged the penthouse, the private jets, and every offshore account I had managed to scrape together from Valerie’s old holdings. This contract was supposed to be my coronation and the moment I finally stepped out of the shadow of the St. Claire name and became a god in this city. A god that would be the talk of the town for years. I could already see myself ruling the world but just the thought made me more nervous. What if I didn’t win? I was as good as dead. "Sir," my lead analyst whispered, his voice trembling. "The portal just updated. We... we didn't get it." The silence that followed was deafening. It felt as if the oxygen had been sucked out of the room. I lunged forward, ramming my hand thoughtlessly on the table. "What do you mean we didn't get it? We were the top bidders! No one in the state has the liquidity to outmatch our offer!" It felt as though I was going crazy. I had watched the charts myself to know I was leading even as the countdown began. It only meant someone was waiting for the last moment to strike. "A last second counter bid, Mr. Thorne," he stammered, pointing at the screen as if scared of my wrath. "An anonymous firm called V. Intl. They outbid us by a fraction, but their technical execution plan is... it is flawless. The state board has already signed the preliminary intent." A pained cry tore off my lips before I could hold it in. I felt the world tilt and dizziness threatened to take over my bloodshot eyes, which were witnessing my empire burn to ashes. The doors of the room swung open, and Lydia walked in, followed by Leo and Lexi but I knew they weren’t coming to comfort me. She was draped in an expensive dress and clad in diamonds, without a care for what I was currently going through. "I told you it was a gamble, Cassian," Lydia said, her voice dripping with coldness. "You pushed too hard, like always. You got greedy, and now you have flushed our lifestyle down the drain." "Shut up, Lydia!" I barked, spinning around to face her. "I did this for us! For the family!" "Did you?" Lexi piped up, crossing her arms over her chest. "Because now the rumors are saying we might lose the house. How am I supposed to show my face at the club if we are bankrupt, Dad?" I was about to lash out at her but Leo didn't let me speak. "You acted recklessly," Leo added, his voice devoid of any respect, like always. “You were so obsessed with topping the charts that you didn't see the trap. You’re pathetic and it’s a shame you’re my dad." I looked at them, short of words for the first time. The woman I had betrayed Valerie for and the children I had lied to protect didn't see my struggles. They were just like their mother, greedy and self-centered. The realization that my life hadn’t been the fairytale I had imagined it to be after the disappearance of Valerie hit me hard. Without Valerie present to humiliate, I quickly became the prey. Lydia had spent the last five years eating away at my confidence, demanding more jewelry, more status, and more blood. It took too long for me to realize that she never loved me. She loved me for the throne I sat on and now it was collapsing. As I stared at their ungrateful faces, I exploded. "Get out!" I screamed, sweeping the files to the floor angrily. "All of you, get out! I need to think!" Lydia didn't even flinch. She only smirked at me before turning to leave. "Come on, kids. Let’s go see if my father can salvage our personal trusts before your father loses those too." They swept out of the room, leaving me alone to deal with my massive failure that was going to be the talk of the town soon. I slumped into my chair with my head in my hands. How had this happened? Eighteen months ago, mysterious buyers started snapping up my suppliers, causing stock prices to dip for no reason and no matter how I tried, I only got cold trails. No one dared to speak to me as I sat there, lost in my thoughts. The door opened again and my general manager, who was sweating profusely, made his way to my side. "Sir, I have it," he panted, holding a tablet out to me like it was a live grenade. "After a thorough search, I have found the face behind V. Intl. It was almost impossible but I got it anyway." I snatched the tablet from his hand with my heart hammering frantically against my chest. I wanted a name. I wanted someone I could sue, someone I could ruin, someone I could kill. "Who is it?" I spat, rage blinding me momentarily. "Which rival is it? Sterling? Moretti?" I looked down at the screen and saw the tablet displayed a high corporate profile. My eyes skipped over the financial stats and landed on the photograph of the CEO. I felt the air leave my lungs. The woman in the photo was stunning without doubt. She was standing tall, dressed in a sharp, red suit that screamed power. Her hair was a chic professional bob, and her hazel eyes were cold and sharp behind designer glasses. I looked her over as I wondered where the hell she came from. I could swear that I’ve never seen her at any business events. Ever. But there was something about her eyes that made fear settle in my stomach. They were the same eyes that have hunted me relentlessly for years. "No," I whispered, the tablet slipping from my numb hand and crashing on the floor. “It’s impossible.” I breathed, talking to myself. “She’s a vegetable who died years ago.” It cannot be. "Valerie," I gasped, the name tasting like ash in my mouth.
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Making My Ex-Husband Crawl 80| PROJECT WHEELCHAIR
Dante's POVThe file came through at seven in the evening.I had it on the laptop on the kitchen table. Valerie sat beside me and we read it together. Neither of us spoke for the first twelve minutes.Her father had been meticulous.Dates. Names. Transfer records going back twenty-two years. The documentation of money leaving the St Claire estate through management fees that were too large.Investment decisions that moved funds into entities that should not have had access to them, and a paper trail that was layered and careful and had been built specifically to be difficult to follow.But he had followed it."He was thorough," I said."I told you," she said. "He read the full manual.""This took years," I said. "This is not something you build in months. He was watching this for a long time before he started documenting.""He knew something was wrong," she said. "He just needed to be able to prove it."I scrolled further. The middle section was the case file itself. The sequence of t
Making My Ex-Husband Crawl 79| SOMEONE BIGGER
Valerie's POVWe did not go inside immediately.We sat in the parked car outside the building, the city went on around us and neither of us reached for the door."He said someone pointed him at your father," Dante said. "Someone with an interest in the estate.""Yes," I said."Is he telling the truth?" he said. "Your honest read."I had been asking myself the same question since I walked out of the supervised room. "He has told me things that turned out to be true," I said. "The gate confession. The visitation room. The open court testimony about the tires. Every time he said something I could not verify immediately, the verification eventually came.""So his track record supports it," Dante said."His track record on the things he eventually confessed to supports it," I said. "But he also has a track record of saying things specifically designed to keep me coming back. The full truth, one more meeting. There is always one more thing.""Both can be true," Dante said."Both are probabl
Making My Ex-Husband Crawl 78| ON THE DRIVE BACK
Dante's POVShe was quiet for the first five minutes of the drive.Not the processing quiet. The sitting-with-it quiet. The kind that meant she had taken in more than she could immediately sort and was letting it settle before she touched it.I drove and let her have it."He was not the beginning," she said finally."No," I said."He was the instrument," she said. "Someone pointed him at my father and he went.""That is what he says," I said."Do you believe it?" she said.I thought about it honestly. "I believe it is possible," I said. "Cassian is capable of planning things himself. He proved that for years. But the specific targeting of your father. The timing. The knowledge of what your father was building legally. That level of information about a private individual's legal activities." I paused."That takes access Cassian may not have had on his own.""Someone with access to the estate management structure," she said."Or access to your father's legal communications," I said. "Hi
Making My Ex-Husband Crawl 77| THE LAST ROOM
Valerie's POVThe supervised visit room was smaller than the glass room.One table. Two chairs on opposite sides. A guard stationed at the door with the door open. A camera in the upper corner of the wall. Everything recorded, everything visible, nothing hidden.I sat down first.He was brought in two minutes later. He had lost more weight since the open court session. His clothes were the facility's.His hands were folded in front of him when he sat down and he did not immediately speak.I waited."Thank you for coming," he said."I am here because the court ordered the visit," I said. "Say what you have to say."He looked at his hands. "I know why you are here," he said. "I am still grateful.""Cassian," I said. "The note said the full truth. So say it."He looked up at me. "I need you to understand that I did not know the full extent of it until much later," he said. "What I arranged was the accident. The tires, the brake line. That was mine. I have told you that.""Yes," I said."
Making My Ex-Husband Crawl 76| THE NOTE
Dante's Pov"The full truth will destroy everything you think you know," she said. "That is the line.""Yes," I said."What does that mean?" she said."It means one of two things," I said. "Either he has something real that genuinely changes the picture. Or he is using the language of something real to get you in a room one more time.""The second option is more likely," she said."Yes," I said. "Statistically. Given his history.""But the first option is possible," she said."Yes," I said. "It is possible."She put the note down on the table. The photograph Marcus had taken of it. The handwriting she had known for years still recognisable even in a photograph of a photograph."He said what I told you in the visitation room was not everything," she said. "He told me he changed the tires himself. He said he needed me to need him. He named Webb.""He named Webb as being present," I said. "But he also said someone helped him. The person who was present and the person who did the work mig
Making My Ex-Husband Crawl 75| WHAT THE EVIDENCE SHOWS
Valerie's PovThe forensic consultant's report came through at eleven in the morning.Forty-two pages. I read every one of them. Dante read them beside me without being asked, which was the way things worked between us now.The chain of custody was clean. Every transfer documented. Every signature present. Every timestamp consistent with the sequence of handling.The consultant had gone back to the original investigation archive and traced the tire samples from their initial collection point forward through every stage to the recent lab analysis.No gaps. No anomalies. No indication of interference."It is clean," I said when I finished."Yes," Dante said. He had finished a few minutes before me."Cassian's team is going to challenge it anyway," I said."They have already challenged it," he said. "The planted claim is filed, but the documentation responds to that claim directly. The court will see both.""And decide," I said."Yes," he said. "And the documentation is very strong."I p
Making My Ex-Husband Crawl 73| THE VIDEO CALL
Valerie's PovThe call was set up through the court's video link system.Not our preference. Hale's lawyer had insisted on the format as a condition of any engagement at all. Just a voluntary conversation over a secure court-approved channel, with both legal teams present on their respective ends.
Making My Ex-Husband Crawl 72| THE MAN WHO WOULD NOT TALK
Dante's PovThe witness's name was Gordon Hale.I pulled everything we had on him in forty minutes. Former early-stage investor in Thorne Industries.In at the ground level when the company was still called Thorne Capital Group and had three employees and an office the size of a large cupboard. He
Making My Ex-Husband Crawl 71| THE NAME HE SAID
Valerie's PovWe found a quiet room off the main corridor.Two chairs and a table and a window onto a side courtyard. The kind of room that existed in courthouses because people needed somewhere to sit between things.Marcus was on the phone outside. Our legal team was with the DA's office. Dante a
Making My Ex-Husband Crawl 68| BEFORE THE HEARING
Dante's PovThe prosecutor's team sent the hearing documents at seven in the morning.I was already at my desk. I read through the full package while Valerie was on the phone with Marcus in the other room.The hearing was in four days, not the full trial. A preliminary hearing to determine the admi
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