로그인공유
Chapter Twenty-Two They Want to Break Me
최신 업데이트:
2025-05-03 00:38:00Elena
The hospital boardroom smelled like antiseptic and polished wood, but the tension in the air was sour and thick. I sat on one side of the long table, fingers clenched around a legal pad I hadn’t written a single word on. Across from me sat three board members, a legal representative, and one very smug woman who didn’t belong here—Sophie Meyers, dressed in a pale ivory suit like she’d just stepped out of a fashion shoot instead of a battlefield. My heart pounded behind my ribs like it wanted to escape. But I didn’t show it. Not anymore. I’d cried in the dark. I’d broken down in the privacy of my home. I’d screamed into pillows, punched mirrors, begged the universe to make it stop. But here? Now? I was steel. “You’ve been accused of misconduct,” the chairman said, folding his hands. “Patient mistreatment. Emotional instability. Conflict of interest due to an alleged affair with a colleague. These complaints are serious, Dr. Blake.” Sophie crossed her legs delicately, watching me like a predator that had already tasted blood. She had filed the complaint just twenty-four hours after the storage unit incident. Clearly, she wasn’t going to wait for me to strike. “I demand to know who filed the complaint,” I said, voice calm but firm. The chairman hesitated, then glanced at the legal rep, who nodded. “Sophie Meyers.” Her name settled into the room like poison. I turned to her. “You’re not a patient. You have no right to interfere in medical board affairs.” Sophie smiled, all faux-innocence. “I may not be a patient, but I’m deeply concerned for the community. When someone’s mental state starts affecting their judgment—especially someone in your position—it’s everyone’s responsibility to speak up.” My nails dug into my palm. She was painting me as unstable. Unfit. Dangerous. “You drugged a woman until she begged to die and now you want to lecture me about judgment?” Gasps filled the room. Sophie blinked, her smile faltering for just a moment. “Excuse me?” “I have proof,” I said, standing. “You drove Ava Thomas to the edge. And now you’re trying to do the same to me.” The chairman banged his gavel. “Dr. Blake—this is not a courtroom. If you have evidence, you will submit it properly. Until then, this hearing is for reviewing your conduct, not accusing others.” But I saw it. That flicker in Sophie’s eyes. The tightening of her jaw. The way her grip on her designer handbag subtly shifted. She was afraid. Good. Let her feel what it’s like to have her world tremble. After the hearing adjourned, I walked out into the parking lot with Jasper by my side. He had insisted on being there, even though it could cost him his job. His eyes were dark with rage. “She’s crossing lines,” he muttered. “If she gets you suspended, Elena—” “She won’t,” I cut in. “I’ve already contacted Trina. She’s prepping the Ava files. I just need to get the rest of the recordings converted. And I found a forensic accountant willing to go through Sophie’s shell companies.” Jasper pulled me into his arms. For a moment, the war faded. I could breathe. Then I felt his body stiffen. “Elena,” he said quietly, “don’t look. Just listen.” “What is it?” “She’s watching us. Across the lot. Black car. Tinted windows.” My pulse thudded in my ears. “She’s not trying to win this quietly anymore,” I said. “She wants a spectacle.” And I’d give it to her. If Sophie Meyers wanted a war, I would burn her world to the ground.
관련 챕터
Shattered Vows Chapter Twenty-Three The Ghost of Ava
Elena I used to think silence was peaceful. That it gave you space to think, to breathe. But the silence in my house tonight was suffocating. Heavy. Paranoid. Every tick of the clock, every creak of the floorboards, every gust of wind tapping the window felt like a warning. I was alone. But I didn’t feel alone. My laptop sat open on the desk in front of me. The screen glowed with a folder titled “AVA – FINAL RECORDINGS.” A USB drive blinked steadily in the side port, like a heartbeat. A faint, blinking reminder that someone had once existed—and someone else had worked so hard to erase her. Twenty-seven audio files. All timestamped. Some with names. Others just… dates. I clicked the first. Her voice filled the room like a ghost drifting through my walls. “She said I needed her. That no one else would love someone with my past. I believed her. God, I really believed her.” Ava sounded so young. So soft. Like she hadn’t yet realized she was living in a trap disguised as affectio
최신 업데이트 : 2025-05-03Shattered Vows Chapter One: The Hair That Didn’t Belong
Ifunanya07Elena There’s a kind of silence in marriage that feels more suffocating than a scream. Not the silence of peace—but the silence of secrets. That’s the kind of silence I’ve been living in. To everyone else, I’m Elena Hart. Accomplished. Beautiful. Successful. A woman with a dream career in psychiatry, a picture-perfect home, a husband most women would envy, and a life that gleams from the outside like polished glass. But anyone who’s ever touched glass knows how easily it shatters. That morning, I did what I always do. I got up before him, prepared his favorite breakfast—sourdough toast, scrambled eggs with truffle oil, and black coffee—and dressed in the soft silk robe he bought me in Paris. Everything was exactly as he liked it. I set the table. The flowers were fresh. The morning sun filtered through the sheer curtains, warm and golden. Perfection. At least on the surface. Daniel walked in like he always did—confident, composed, already halfway into the version of
최신 업데이트 : 2025-04-26Shattered Vows Chapter Two The Woman in the Picture
ElenaI didn’t expect it to happen so soon.The phone buzzed on the kitchen counter while I was preparing lunch, a quiet hum that broke the silence in a way that felt like a warning. At first, I thought it might be a work email—an update on a patient or a scheduling issue. Something benign. Something safe. But when I saw the number, I froze.Unknown Number.I hesitated for only a moment. Then I unlocked the screen, heart pounding in my throat. The message was short, cryptic, but it was enough to shatter whatever illusion of calm I was clinging to.“Is this your husband?”There was a photo attached.I clicked it open, breath catching in my chest.It was blurry at first. A shot taken too quickly, too sloppily—but I could make out enough. The image of Daniel sitting at a bar, his arm around a woman whose blonde hair fell in waves around her shoulders. She was leaning in close, her lips close to his ear, whispering something he couldn’t hear over the nois
최신 업데이트 : 2025-04-26Shattered Vows Chapter Three Uncovering the Shadows
ElenaI didn’t need to confront Daniel to know that something was broken between us.The phone had buzzed on the kitchen counter like a relentless reminder of my reality. But now that I had seen the pictures, felt the weight of those cold, lifeless words from the unknown sender—I think you need to know—the silence was unbearable.I had a decision to make: confront him now, with my hands shaking and my heart pulsing in blind anger, or gather the pieces of this puzzle before the truth hit me full force.I chose the latter.Because I wasn’t going to let this happen to me. Not again.I opened my laptop and went straight to his social media accounts. Daniel was meticulous about his online presence. Always business-like. Always curated. He wasn’t one to post personal photos, but I knew the drill. I knew how to look. I knew how to sift through the noise.His Instagram account was a portfolio of success—pictures from business trips, conference calls, and the occa
최신 업데이트 : 2025-04-26Shattered Vows Chapter Four The Mistress Behind the Smile
ElenaI had mastered the art of looking composed.Years of hosting galas, counseling patients through breakdowns, and building a flawless reputation had trained me to smile through anything. Even now, standing in a room filled with champagne flutes and polished lies, I wore that same serene expression.But underneath it all, I was drowning in silence.The charity auction was one of those high-profile events Daniel and I always attended together—another photo opportunity, another night of pretending we were still the perfect couple. But tonight, he’d called an hour before, claiming a “last-minute meeting” had come up.Right.So I came alone.The room glittered with familiar faces—socialites, executives, politicians—but none of them mattered. My eyes scanned the crowd, heartbeat steady, gaze sharp. I didn’t know what I was looking for.Until I saw her.She was standing near the bar in a navy silk dress that clung to her hips like water. Her hai
최신 업데이트 : 2025-04-26Shattered Vows Chapter Five The First Crack
ElenaThe house was dark when I returned—quiet, too quiet. I expected Daniel to be asleep or gone altogether, but as I stepped through the doorway, I saw a faint light spilling from the living room.He was waiting for me.He sat on the edge of the couch in his navy robe, a glass of whiskey cradled in one hand, his phone in the other. He didn’t look up right away. But I knew he heard me.I closed the door gently and set my clutch on the entryway table, then walked in like nothing was out of place. Like my entire world wasn’t rotting at the core.“Elena,” he said, finally glancing at me. His eyes were tired. Alert. Cautious.“Daniel.” I moved past him, heading toward the kitchen. “You’re up late.”“Couldn’t sleep.”I poured myself a glass of water, taking my time. I felt his eyes follow me—he was studying me, trying to read me, trying to guess what I knew.“How was the event?” he asked casually.I turned slowly to face him. “Lovely. All the
최신 업데이트 : 2025-04-26Shattered Vows Chapter Six Every Lie Has a Trail
ElenaHe was quieter around me now. Careful.Every word Daniel spoke was measured. Every move felt rehearsed, like he was walking on broken glass, afraid I’d snap.But I didn’t.I smiled. I kissed his cheek in front of friends. I made his coffee exactly how he liked it. I didn’t raise my voice or throw a single accusation.Because I wasn’t going to waste my energy fighting for a man who had already left me in spirit.Now I was playing a different game.And the first rule? Never let them know they’ve lost you until it’s far too late.I started small.The morning after our conversation, I went into his study while he was still in the shower. His laptop was open—no password. He never thought he needed one.He still underestimated me.I searched his folders calmly, methodically. A few spreadsheets, legal contracts, nothing interesting—until I opened a folder labeled “ARCHIVE.” Buried deep inside were travel receipts. A hotel booking in th
최신 업데이트 : 2025-04-26Shattered Vows Chapter Seven Strangers Who Know Too Much
ElenaIt arrived on a Thursday.A plain white envelope, tucked between bills and advertisements, no return address. I almost missed it—almost tossed it aside with the rest of the junk. But something about it made me pause.No markings. No handwriting.Inside, a single photograph.Daniel. Sophie. Together.Not at some hotel or late-night dinner—but here. In this town. At the same bookstore I used to take our son to before he left for college. Daniel’s hand was on the small of her back. Her head was tilted toward his. Too close. Too familiar.On the back of the photo, typed in clean block letters:“How much truth can you stomach, Elena?”No signature.My pulse didn’t race. I didn’t gasp. I just… stared.Someone was watching him. Watching us. And they weren’t doing it for fun.They were playing their own game.I slipped the photo into my handbag, careful not to crease it. My instincts screamed to burn it, tear it, bury it in the
최신 업데이트 : 2025-04-26
최신 챕터
Shattered Vows Chapter Twenty-Three The Ghost of Ava
Elena I used to think silence was peaceful. That it gave you space to think, to breathe. But the silence in my house tonight was suffocating. Heavy. Paranoid. Every tick of the clock, every creak of the floorboards, every gust of wind tapping the window felt like a warning. I was alone. But I didn’t feel alone. My laptop sat open on the desk in front of me. The screen glowed with a folder titled “AVA – FINAL RECORDINGS.” A USB drive blinked steadily in the side port, like a heartbeat. A faint, blinking reminder that someone had once existed—and someone else had worked so hard to erase her. Twenty-seven audio files. All timestamped. Some with names. Others just… dates. I clicked the first. Her voice filled the room like a ghost drifting through my walls. “She said I needed her. That no one else would love someone with my past. I believed her. God, I really believed her.” Ava sounded so young. So soft. Like she hadn’t yet realized she was living in a trap disguised as affectio
Shattered Vows Chapter Twenty-Two They Want to Break Me
ElenaThe hospital boardroom smelled like antiseptic and polished wood, but the tension in the air was sour and thick.I sat on one side of the long table, fingers clenched around a legal pad I hadn’t written a single word on. Across from me sat three board members, a legal representative, and one very smug woman who didn’t belong here—Sophie Meyers, dressed in a pale ivory suit like she’d just stepped out of a fashion shoot instead of a battlefield.My heart pounded behind my ribs like it wanted to escape. But I didn’t show it. Not anymore.I’d cried in the dark. I’d broken down in the privacy of my home. I’d screamed into pillows, punched mirrors, begged the universe to make it stop. But here? Now?I was steel.“You’ve been accused of misconduct,” the chairman said, folding his hands. “Patient mistreatment. Emotional instability. Conflict of interest due to an alleged affair with a colleague. These complaints are serious, Dr. Blake.”Sophie crossed her
Shattered Vows Chapter Twenty-One The Threat Beneath the Surface
ElenaThe folder felt like it was pulsing in my hands.Thin and worn, but loaded with the kind of truth that could split a life apart. Melinda Rhodes had told me she was giving me the keys to Sophie’s ruin, but this—this was more than evidence. It was a graveyard of broken spirits. And Ava’s was buried beneath them all.The first page was a journal entry. Ava’s handwriting was delicate, almost childlike. She wrote about Sophie with a mix of fear and worship. It was the kind of twisted devotion a victim has for their abuser.“She says no one else will ever love me. That I’m too weak, too broken. But she loves me. I think she really does. Even when she hurts me, she says it’s for my own good.”I closed the folder before I could vomit.The next morning, I met Trina Williams at a café that opened before dawn. The air was thick with roasted coffee beans and secrets.She took one look at me and sighed. “How deep are you in?”“Neck-deep. Maybe more.”She
Shattered Vows Chapter Twenty When Graves Speak
Elena It wasn’t enough to know Sophie was a liar. I needed to prove it—publicly, undeniably, irreversibly. That meant going where no one had dared. To the beginning. To Ava’s grave. The cemetery sat on the outskirts of town, forgotten by most, surrounded by wild grass and rusted gates. Jasper parked beside me in silence, letting the engine hum as he stared out the windshield. “You sure about this?” he asked. “No,” I admitted. “But we’re past that point.” He nodded. “Her records say she was cremated. No real burial. But I found a stone. Someone placed it for her anyway. A symbolic grave. Maybe guilt. Maybe Sophie.” The wind howled as we walked. I found the name carved faintly into a weathered headstone: Ava Montgomery 1992 – 2011 “She was light before she was taken.” Taken. Not lost. Not gone. Taken. That word wasn’t random. Someone had carved it in pain. “Who was she, really?” I asked aloud, my voice caught between anger and grief. “And what did Sophie take from her
Shattered Vows Chapter Nineteen The Secret Sophie Buried
ElenaThe news hit like a wrecking ball.Not the articles I’d leaked. Not the testimonies or the financial breadcrumbs I’d strategically dropped.This one wasn’t mine.It came from her.A controlled explosion, wrapped in glossy PR, delivered like an act of mercy.But I knew better.Sophie Mitchell didn’t do mercy.She did strategy.I was standing in my kitchen, staring at the screen when the headline hit.“Sophie Mitchell Speaks Out: My Battle With Mental Illness, Abuse, and Silence.”She was sitting on a cream couch, soft lighting bathing her face like some tragic heroine.“I’ve been running from the truth for years,” she said, voice trembling perfectly. “But no more. I was in an emotionally abusive relationship. And when I finally escaped, I found myself stalked, harassed, and falsely accused by another woman who refused to let go of her pain.”My name wasn’t mentioned.But everyone knew.I was the other woman.The bitter ex-wife. The broken doctor. The unhinged stalker.Her crocodi
Shattered Vows Chapter Eighteen Revenge School
ElenaRevenge isn’t impulsive.It’s methodical. Ruthless.You study your enemy. You learn how they breathe, what makes them tick, where they bleed.And then you make sure the knife goes deep enough they never crawl back.I wasn’t just going to ruin Sophie Mitchell.I was going to erase her.After the arrest, the suspension, and the media firestorm, I should’ve been hiding.But pain has a way of sharpening you into something unrecognizable.Rachel begged me to lie low.But I had other plans.I started by visiting the one person who hated Sophie more than I did.Her ex.Jasper Blake.He was once her partner—romantic, professional, maybe even criminal. I wasn’t sure yet. But what I did know was that Sophie had left him behind to burn, taking his clients, his company, and his reputation with her.He hadn’t surfaced in years.Until now.I found him in a crumbling villa on the edge of the city. Disgraced, disbarred, drunk
Shattered Vows Chapter Seventeen The Cell
ElenaCold metal. Fluorescent lights. A buzzing silence so thick it felt like it crawled into your skin.I sat alone in the interrogation room, wrists cuffed, heart racing.They hadn’t formally charged me yet, but the message was loud and clear:You’re not just under attack anymore, Elena. You’re officially at war.And I was losing ground.The two detectives sitting across from me wore polite masks—expressions that said we’re just doing our job, but eyes that screamed we already think you’re guilty.“Dr. Hart,” the lead detective began, flipping through his file, “there’s testimony from the victim’s sister that you falsified the surgical consent. That you performed without her full understanding of the risks. Would you like to explain that?”“No,” I said flatly. “Because it’s not true. That case was reviewed, cleared, and archived a year ago. There was no negligence. No falsification.”He raised an eyebrow. “Interesting, because the hospital board
Shattered Vows Chapter Sixteen Exposure
ElenaI arrived at the studio before dawn.The producer looked me over like I was some delicate, half-crazed woman who might shatter under the weight of a single question.Let them think I was fragile.They’d learn soon enough—I was forged in betrayal, and fire was now my weapon.The lights were hot, the cameras unforgiving. The same chair Sophie had sat in just days ago now held me—her enemy. Her mirror.The interviewer cleared his throat. “You know there will be consequences, Dr. Hart.”I smiled. Cold. Certain.“I’m counting on it.”The red light blinked on.“Today,” he began, “we have Dr. Elena Hart, the ex-wife of Daniel Hart, and the woman accused of stalking, hacking, and threatening Sophie Mitchell. Dr. Hart, do you deny these accusations?”“I don’t just deny them,” I said, voice steady. “I can prove they were orchestrated. Fabricated. This isn’t a story of heartbreak. It’s a story of obsession—but not mine.”I pulled the flash
Shattered Vows Chapter Fifteen The Trap
ElenaThere’s a line you cross when you realize survival isn’t enough.You want justice. You want them to suffer. You want the world to know what they did.That’s where I was.And I wasn’t coming back from it.I didn’t eat. I barely slept. I stayed in my home office for two days, combing through every piece of evidence I had—building a case not just to clear my name, but to obliterate Sophie’s. And Daniel’s, if he didn’t stay the hell out of my way.The documents from the flash drive painted a clear picture. Sophie hadn’t just seduced my husband—she had used him, recorded him, and kept detailed records of every illegal transaction she made through his name and mine.She was planning my downfall long before she ever stepped foot in our home.I’d collected voice memos, emails, hidden surveillance footage. But I needed more than evidence.I needed a witness.A man named Carter Wilde had once been a high-profile client of Sophie’s—wealthy, powerfu
