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CHAPTER 70

Author: Samuel Chikwado
last update Last Updated: 2025-06-22 23:15:46

STANLEY'S POV

I looked up at the wall clock, it was a few minutes past 7 but it didn't feel like it. I was savouring the bitter taste of my too-dark cup of coffee, staring blankly at the skyline from the window in my living room, when my private line sprang to life.

"Talk," I answered, my voice rough.

"You've got eyes on you," my investigator said. "And not the usual kind. It looks like Someone's high profile is asking questions about your movements, your recent phone calls, money changes,and even travel. They're trying to be subtle. But I know a clean cover when I see one and I have eyes everywhere so believe me when I say you're being investigated" he finally finished, taking a deep breath.

I set the mug down. "Do you have a name? A face?"

"Not yet. But the person who's doing this has access to the top databases. I'm working on it but I can't do all the working. You need to be careful on your end."

I rubbed my jaw, eyes tight. "Keep me in the loop. And scan your back trail. Delet
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  • STEP ASIDE EX-HUSBAND: THE RISE OF LIANA   CHAPTER 78

    LIANA'S POVThe Palmetto District gallery loft was cooler than I remembered. High ceilings and blanched cement floors provided an unfinished atmosphere, and the sunlight filtering through tall windows created soft golden stripes across the room. I rested my shoulder against the tall window, arms folded, jacket tight around me as minutes crept toward ten.This room was once used to showcase exhibits and silent auctions. Today, it provided the backdrop for something much more rambunctious.I glanced at my watch. 9:58 a.m.Footsteps came up behind me, light and sure. I did not need to turn around. "You got there first," Serena breathed.I looked over my shoulder, and there she was, unfazed and sharp eyed, in a blue coat with her hair tucked back tightly. She had the look of someone who had nothing to lose and everything to fight for. A woman who'd stopped waiting for someone else to give her closure."Didn't sleep much," I said."Who does anymore?" She flashed me a tired but real smile.

  • STEP ASIDE EX-HUSBAND: THE RISE OF LIANA   CHAPTER 77

    SERENA'S POVThe call had just ended and I was still holding onto my phone like it was a live wire. Liana's voice echoed in my mind, low, controlled, but wound tight with fear. She was afraid, and if Liana was afraid, then that meant the rest of us had something to be afraid of.I was motionless for a moment, the gravity of the conversation settling like a chilly mist upon my shoulders. Outside, streetlights began to twinkle on, casting long, fractured shadows across my apartment's sheer curtains. I paced the living room in slow, deliberate steps. My eyes kept drifting toward the balcony windows, scanning the skyline, rooftops, alleyway corners, anywhere someone might be watching from. The soft hum of the city below should have comforted me, but tonight it felt foreboding. Like the quiet before something terrible.It wasn't paranoia if you were right. I sat down on the edge of the couch and picked up my laptop from the coffee table. My hands trembled slightly as I opened my encrypted

  • STEP ASIDE EX-HUSBAND: THE RISE OF LIANA   CHAPTER 76

    LIANA'S POVI stood at my home office window, my fingers casually slung over the rim of my telephone. The sun was bleeding into the late afternoon horizon, leaving long streaks of gold in the sky, but I barely noticed. My mind had been racing since Stanley and I parted ways at the restaurant the night before. The subjects that we had discussed… the dangers we had skirted around… it all rubbed at my nerves with a tenacity that I could not dispel.Stanley had said that Dominic might be watching him. And if Dominic was suspicious of Stanley, it wasn't far fetched that I might be quietly watched as well, maybe Serena was watched too. The thought sent shivers down my spine. I jut wanted to be done and over with this Dominic scandal and move back to my normal life. I picked up my phone and glanced at my messages. Sifting through the calls I had left unanswered and the half dozen random emails, I saw Serena's number. My thumb lingered for a moment on the screen. She was a major part of this

  • STEP ASIDE EX-HUSBAND: THE RISE OF LIANA   CHAPTER 75

    STANLEY'S POVShe uttered it like she was asking for extra cream in her coffee. It was so effortless and smooth."So what's the plan?" The line hit me like a slap, unexpected and rough. I blinked. My body froze halfway through its movement, hand in mid-air as I tried to push the table a little further. I had spent the last half-hour trying to make amends for my transgressions, wearing my guilt like a crown, hoping she would see remorse shining through every word I spoke.But this? I wasn't sure this was forgiveness. This smelt of strategy. I seethed at her. Her face was calm and vacant, but her eyes, they blazed with something else. Determination. Revenge. A craving to regain power."What?" I breathed, not quite certain I'd heard right.Liana's lips formed a tiny smile, but her words sliced like glass. "You heard me, Stanley. What's the plan?"Slowly, I lowered my hand and rested back into the booth, gazing at her face. I forgot how to breathe for a moment. There she was, the same wom

  • STEP ASIDE EX-HUSBAND: THE RISE OF LIANA   CHAPTER 74

    LIANA'S POVI lingered there, staring at my phone screen for too long. My thumbs hovered over Stanley's name as if touching it would make him vanish. I didn't know what scared me more, the thought that he would not pick up, or that he would but after the conversation with mum, I was convinced I needed to talk to him. Finally, I pressed the call button.It rang once and then it kept ringing but no answer came. My heart was pounding as I dialed it again. "Hello?" His voice was deep and groggy.For a moment, I was paralysed. My mouth opened but nothing came out. That voice, Lord,it was like a pull to everything I wanted to disown and everything I secretly desired."Are you there?" he asked, soft, hesitating.I swallowed. "Yeah. I'm here."There was a pause. Then his voice returned, panicked and on the verge of being out of breath. "I'm… I can’t believe you phoned. I mean, I'm so grateful you phoned.""Hold on," I said, trying to stop my voice from trembling. "Don't be thankful yet.""

  • STEP ASIDE EX-HUSBAND: THE RISE OF LIANA   CHAPTER 73

    Mrs David PovThe cold had settled in. It wasn’t just in the wind outside or in the pale afternoon light slipping through the blinds, it was in my bones. In the quiet that had hung in this house lately like an extra layer of frost.I wrapped my shawl tighter around me and went into the kitchen. The tiles were biting into my heels, and I moved slowly, rubbing my hands together to warm them.What I needed was coffee. Cappuccino, specifically.Something creamy and warm, like friendship in a cup.The kettle whirred into action as I picked out my favorite mug, the one Cam had crafted on Mother's Day three years previously, with its drippy swirls and pink heart bearing my name just legibly in the center. I smiled every time I used it.The sachet tore open easily, and I poured it into the mug as steam erupted behind me. Just then, I heard the clicking of heels from behind, slowly approaching me. She did not usually walk that slowly.Liana entered the kitchen wearing a lightweight coat over h

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