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Chapter Ten Cracks in Her Crown
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2025-04-26 03:26:00Elena
Julian West was not what I expected. I thought he’d be bitter. Angry. A man hollowed out by disgrace and scandal. Instead, he was calm. Composed. Like someone who had already made peace with the wreckage Sophie left behind—and was waiting patiently to see her fall next. He met me at a private lounge downtown. No one knew we were there. He insisted. “She ruined your life,” I said, once we were seated across from each other. Julian stirred his drink, slow and deliberate. “No. I let her ruin it. That was my mistake.” “Do you regret it?” “Regret’s a waste of time,” he replied. “But revenge? That’s something worth investing in.” There it was—that fire I was hoping for. “She’s involved with my husband,” I said. Julian didn’t flinch. “Of course she is.” “You don’t seem surprised.” “Because Sophie doesn’t love men. She uses them. Until there’s nothing left.” I leaned forward. “I want her exposed. Every dirty secret. Every lie. I want the world to see her for what she really is.” He studied me for a long moment. “You’re not like the others. Most women come to me broken. You? You’re dangerous.” “Good,” I whispered. Julian pulled out his phone and tapped a few buttons before sliding it across the table. “She used this number when she contacted me again. Two weeks ago.” My spine stiffened. “She reached out to you?” “She wanted to make sure I was still silent.” “What did she offer?” “A taste,” he said, his mouth curling into a cold smile. “And a warning.” I raised an eyebrow. “Did she threaten you?” “She tried.” He leaned back. “But Sophie’s real fear isn’t exposure. It’s irrelevance. She needs to be adored. Desired. Worshipped. Take that from her… and she collapses.” That stuck with me. Sophie didn’t fear scandal. She feared invisibility. Which meant the worst thing I could do to her wasn’t revenge—it was destroying the illusion she built for herself. Make people stop seeing her as irresistible. Make Daniel stop choosing her. Make her feel replaceable. That’s when she’d truly break. Back home, Daniel was pacing the hallway, phone clutched tightly in his hand. “Is everything okay?” I asked, hanging up my coat. He looked startled. “Yeah… just work stuff.” Liar. I bet she’d called. I bet her voice sounded tight, uncertain. She felt the walls closing in. Good. Let her squirm. Later that night, I watched him shower in silence. I used to find comfort in those moments—his body, his skin, the familiarity of it all. Now it felt like watching a stranger wash away sins that wouldn’t scrub off. And yet, I smiled. Because behind the steam and silence, he was losing her. I could see it in the way his hands shook when he checked his phone. In the way he kept glancing at me, like I was the one hiding something. Which I was. I wasn’t just Elena Hart anymore. I was the reckoning they never saw coming.
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