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Chapter 32 Echoes of betrayal
Last Updated:
2025-06-16 16:33:36
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Once Upon a Marriage Chapter 35 Ashes and Ember
Eloise The email came at 7:03 a.m. I was at the kitchen counter, the kettle just starting to boil, Max was still asleep down the hall, everywhere quiet, the way I liked it before the day began. But that email shattered the peace. Subject: Custody Petition, Lucian True. My hands went cold. The mug slipped from my fingers, clattering to the floor, but I didn’t even hear it. My pulse roared in my ears as I read the first lines, then again, as if the words might change. Lucian was filing for shared custody. Shared custody! The man who hadn’t done the least like send a birthday card, who hadn’t asked about fevers, nightmares, school, scraped knees, now he wanted shared custody now? The kettle whistled sharply, like a scream. I turned it off, my hands shaking. Max’s voice carried down the hall, small and sleepy. “Mama?” I inhaled, steadying myself, smoothing the edges of my voice before I called back, “In the kitchen, sweetheart.” He padded in, hair a mess, dragging his favorit
Once Upon a Marriage Chapter 34 The fault Lines
Lucian It started with a whisper. I was in my office. The morning sun glinted off the skyline. Everything seemed normal. Or so I thought. The whisper came in the form of a memo. A low-level assistant, trembling, handed me a printed blog post. “Sir, I—I thought you should see this before the press office responds.” I took it with practiced calm, scanning the words. Underdog Designer’s Work Stolen Again? Insider Sources Hint at High-Level Sabotage. Eloise’s name threaded through the piece, wrapped in speculation, accusation, sympathy. And worse, whispers that my brand was involved. My jaw clenched. I folded the paper carefully, placed it on my desk, and dismissed the assistant with a flick of my fingers. This wasn’t part of the plan. … Later that afternoon, Jennifer walked into my office. Red lips, flawless makeup, the scent of her signature perfume preceding her. She dropped into the chair across from me like she owned the space. “You saw the piece?” she purred, crossing on
Once Upon a Marriage Chapter 33 The web tightens
Mike I didn’t sleep the night Eloise called. Her voice echoed in my head, raw, broken, full of a pain I’d never wanted to cause. The worst part wasn’t that she suspected me. The worst part was knowing I couldn’t even blame her. From the outside, I was the obvious choice. The only one besides Ava who had seen the children’s designs. The only one who’d been close enough to every sketch, every idea. And I hated it. The apartment was silent. I stood by the window, staring out at the city, watching the distant lights flicker like dying stars. My reflection stared back, dark circles, clenched jaw, fists pressed against the glass. Someone was doing this to her. And I was going to find out who. … The next morning, I started where I always did, quietly, carefully. I reached out to a friend of mine, Noah, who worked digital security for one of the fashion conglomerates. Discreet and trusted. I called him from a burner. No traces. “Noah. It’s Mike.” A pause. “Damn, been a while. What’s
Once Upon a Marriage Chapter 32 Echoes of betrayal
Eloise Betrayal was something I was used to. I always thought betrayal would feel the same, like a clean, sharp thing. Like a knife sliding between my ribs, fast, precise and undeniable. But this? This was something slower. A rot I couldn’t see, only sense. Something wrong beneath the surface that I couldn’t name, but felt in every fiber of me. It started with a message. Cass, a stylist I’d worked with once in Milan, slid into my DMs. “Hey… did you collaborate with that big house on the capsule Jennifer dropped today? The designs scream YOU.” I stared at the screen, the words blurring. My stomach went cold. I clicked the link he sent. Watched the video play on loop. Jennifer. In a sleek black dress, her hair slicked back, smiling like she’d invented the sun itself. Models walked past behind her in pieces so achingly familiar I wanted to scream. The same raw, layered lines. The same textures I’d sketched late into the night. The same soul I’d poured into my work. Mine. Stolen.
Once Upon a Marriage Chapter 31 Whispers and shadows
Ava The message came at 2:13 a.m. My phone vibrated so violently on my nightstand that it startled me out of my half-sleep. I blinked into the darkness, the soft glow of the screen the only light in my apartment. My thumb hesitated over the screen, heart already thudding in that way it did when I knew, when instinct screamed that whatever waited was going to shatter me. I unlocked it. There was no text. Just an image. And then another. And another. I felt my throat close up. There we were. Me and Mike. From three years ago. The hazy, neon-lit club in Prague. His arm slung around my waist, my head tilted back in laughter, his mouth on my throat in the next frame. And then the final photo, which my hand was grabbing him into that hotel. My fingers laced with his like we couldn’t wait to tear each other apart. I felt the blood drain from my face. A notification pinged. Finally, the text came. “Thought you’d appreciate a little memory lane. We’ll keep this between us… if you’re co
Once Upon a Marriage Chapter 30 The shift
Mike I watched the lies go viral from the quiet corner of my office. The glossy headline blinked at me from my phone screen. Jennifer’s painted smile, all high cheekbones and glinting malice, stared back at me. “She and Eloise were once creative partners,” the article claimed. “Eloise left bitter, jealous, and has been trying to sabotage Jennifer’s success ever since.” Bullshit. I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my face with both hands. The truth wasn’t even in the same galaxy as that headline, but the public didn’t care about truth. They cared about performance. Pageantry. And Jennifer? She performed like her life depended on it. I scrolled further. There were comments, thousands of them, many siding with her. “Jealousy is ugly,” one wrote. “Team Jennifer,” another said. And yet, buried in the noise, were a few signs of doubt. A few people asking, If Eloise was such a villain, why isn’t she speaking out? Because she’s exhausted. Because the woman never wanted a war, just pea
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