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Chapter Three
Huling Na-update:
2025-08-11 05:38:12Thora's POV
If only I knew
I was scrolling through my phone in the dimly lit room as the midnight clock ticked by.
A new DM popped up from the same unknown account that has been messaging and disturbing me all these while, Luke.
“You’re more than your headlines, Thora. Let’s meet. Face to face.”
Hmm. What does he really want with me? He should better know that if he's trying to make advances, I see him and I'm not interested.
However, I'll give him a chance. I'd like to hear about this business… of his.
“Friday night.” I replied.
Quentin on the other hand was not resting. He endlessly tormented my life with annoying messages and endless threats.
I just ignored it, but it was getting out of hand. However, the long awaited Friday night came.
I appeared stunning, not too much, just enough for a business discussion.
When I spotted someone coming, I knew it was him. Tall, dazzling eyes, well dressed.
But to be honest, he looks nothing like the cold billionaire I imagined.
He approached with a confident smile.
“You must be Thora. I’ve been waiting for this moment longer than I care to admit.” He admitted.
Flatter. He didn't know me well then.
“Flattery won’t get you far with me.”
I looked away and sipped my wine.
He just laughed calmly and pulled out an envelope from his suit and handed it over to me.
“What's this?” I raised an eyebrow.
“A proposal. Not just for your heart, but for your revenge.” I looked into those golden eyes of his, observing his every movement.
I opened it up and saw the devious plan he had carefully outlined to take out Quentin.
I don't understand why he's offering to help me, it doesn't sit well with me. Why would someone I just met would want to go this far to bring down Quentin for me for nothing in return.
“Why are you helping me?”
I snapped. The whole thing was getting suspicious.
“Nothing in particular. The thing is, Quentin is a man with lots of enemies, and I happen to be one of them…”
Okay then.
He proposed we had a fake date…
“What? No. Hell no!”
That alone turned me off. This was a mistake. I rose up to go, but his soft hands pulled me back.
I still didn't want to listen, but something, I don't know, it just pulled me back.
“Chill. It's all good. We just act, nothing more than that.”
My stern eyes were fixed on him as he outlined strategies on how we'll dismantle Quentin’s empire publicly and personally.
I still don't like the idea.
“You will destroy him in the press, I’ll handle the business fallout. We split the wins.”
Interesting, but I don't completely trust him…
However, it's worth a try. I'll do anything to get back at him. Imagine he had the guts to break into my house. I'll teach him a little lesson.
Not too much, as usual, just enough.
“Deal. Sounds perfect then.” I rose again to shake hands with him, he just wasn't ready.
I need to get away from him fast, Quentin has eyes and ears around me, seeing me with Luke might be misinterpreted.
“Wait. We're not done yet. Sit…”
He smiled and adjusted my chair for me.
“For this to work, it requires trust and good acting skills.”
That's true. One mistake and this whole thing would fail.
But we can still make it work. Although, there's something he wants to say that he's holding back. There's something he wants he's not saying.
“What's in it for you?”
He smiled, sipped in some wine and looked into my eyes, he wanted his words to go straight to my mind.
“Let’s say… I have a score to settle too.
Okay then. I smiled and extended my hand again for a hand shake.
Thankfully, he agreed.
“Deal. Let’s burn his world down.” I smirked.
Our first strike was at a charity gala where Quentin was present.
I arrived in Luke's arms, all eyes on us, as usual.
I saw him and he immediately whispered to his colleague.
I know he must be asking who's with me. Well, let's start this party.
Luke leaned in with a whisper.
“Ready to make him jealous?”
“Born ready.”
We danced together in the center, next to Quentin.
Later, when Luke had left me to greet some people, Quentin confronted mez his voice was furious, just what I wanted. That jealousy, let him feel it, it needs to burn in his skin.
“You’re using me. Don’t pretend you’re not.” He warned.
“I’m the one playing you, Quentin.”
“Don't push too far. You wouldn't like the outcome.”
“What would be the outcome? I'd like to know…”
I pushed his shoulder and left, but he held me back.
“This is just a game to you right?”
It's a game I enjoy playing, but it's more.
“It’s survival.”
To anger him the more, we faked a kiss on the dance floor again, slowly, allowing him to feel the effect.
This is going too far. This is more than just a game. That's why I never liked the idea of this whole thing.
The heat, it's real. I felt it.
It wasn't supposed to mean anything. It wasn't supposed to leave me breathless, but it did.
After pulling back, his expression softened and he leaned in closer with a low voice and dropped a question that rang louder than the disco.
“If you want him destroyed, you need to tell me the truth about the baby you're carrying”
What?! I knew it. He wanted something, all these while, he's been hiding it.
How did he even know?
My mind flashed back to the day I told Quentin I was pregnant, the shock on his face, the silence, the doubts.
Damn! It was just a little mistake.
“...Quentin, it’s yours. I’m not hiding it.”
Oh my God.
The silly bastard came prepared. He took me outside, back to his car and pulled out a DNA test kit from his boot.
“Let’s end the lies tonight…”
My breath caught in my throat. No… No!
Why now?!
Pinakabagong kabanata
Step Aside, dear ex Chapter 50
Thora’s POVI don’t sleep.Not fully.I drift in and out of half-dreams where numbers rearrange themselves into accusations and signatures blur into faces.When my phone vibrates at 6:12 a.m., I’m already awake.Unknown number.I answer immediately.“Ms. Greenwood?” a calm male voice asks.“Yes.”“This is Assistant District Attorney Reynolds.”So it’s official now.My spine straightens instinctively.“I assume this is about December,” I say.A pause.“December,” he repeats carefully. “And before.”Before.The word settles differently.“Can you come in?” he asks. “There’s someone here you need to hear.”The prosecutor’s office smells like paper and coffee and long nights.When I step inside the conference room, Luke is already there.He looks pale.Not surprised.Just bracing.Across the table—A woman I’ve never met.Mid-thirties. Quiet posture. Steady eyes.She doesn’t look dramatic.She looks observant.“Mara Hale,” Reynolds says. “Compliance.”The missing variable.She nods once at
Step Aside, dear ex Chapter 49
Mara’s POVNo one ever remembers Compliance.They remember executives.They remember board members.They remember courtroom statements and polished speeches.They don’t remember the people who log the numbers.That’s why I’ve survived here for eight years.Quietly.Correcting mistakes.Flagging irregularities.Watching them get closed.The first time I saw December 14th, I thought it was a clerical error.Audit flags don’t close in forty-eight hours without escalation.Not at this level.I reopened it.It closed again within twelve minutes.No comment.No explanation.Just override.That’s when I knew it wasn’t a mistake.It was a decision.I didn’t send the first envelope to be dramatic.I sent it because the courtroom was circling the wrong crime.Offshore accounts are ugly.But they’re survivable.Consulting retention tied to a regulatory board member?That’s rot.And rot spreads.I sit at my kitchen table with my laptop open, watching the news recap from today’s hearing.Quentin P
Step Aside, dear ex Chapter 48
Quentin’s POVI don’t panic.I calculate.That’s the difference between men who survive storms and men who drown in them.By the time I step into my office the next morning, the skyline is pale and unforgiving. The city looks clean from this height.It always does.My assistant meets me at the door.“You have three missed calls from the Board Chair,” she says.Interesting.“He didn’t leave a message?”“No.”I nod once.“Hold everything for twenty minutes.”She hesitates. “The prosecutor’s office also requested an updated financial breakdown. Expanded range.”Of course they did.“How expanded?”“Backdated to December.”There it is.I don’t react.“You can go.”The door shuts behind her.And the silence changes.December.That date has weight.Not because of the transfer.Because of the agreement.Agreements are not illegal.They are interpretations.And interpretations are survivable.Unless—Unless someone reframes them.I sit at my desk and open the internal security dashboard.No br
Step Aside, dear ex Chapter 47
Thora’s POVThe courthouse slowly emptied.People leave in clusters... lawyers, journalists, spectators who came for spectacle but got something heavier instead.I didn’t leave immediately.I stay seated.Because something about today didn’t settle.It shifted.There’s a difference.Luke’s testimony fractured something.Quentin’s didn’t defend — it redirected.And that offshore account?That wasn’t the center.It was a decoy.I’ve worked with Quentin long enough to recognize misdirection.He only lets you see what he’s already prepared to lose.By the time I stepped outside, the sky has gone pale and flat.Luke is waiting near the curb.He looks tired in a way that isn’t physical.“You okay?” he asks.“Not yet.”He studies me.“You saw it too, didn’t you?”“Yes.”“That wasn’t everything.”“No.”We stand in silence for a moment.Cars pass. Cameras linger from a distance. The city continues like this isn’t a fault line running under all of it.“I need access to the old internal logs,” I
Step Aside, dear ex Chapter 46
Quentin’s POVThey think I’m angry.That’s the mistake.Anger is messy.Anger reacts.I do neither.I adjust.The courtroom smells faintly of paper and old wood polish. I’ve always liked rooms like this. Order. Structure. Rules that can be bent if you know where to press.Luke sits behind her.Not beside her.Not touching her.But aligned.That detail matters.He won’t realize how much it matters yet.He still thinks this is about conscience.It isn’t.It’s about leverage.“Mr. Palmer, you may take the stand.”I rise without hesitation.The walk to the witness chair is measured — not slow, not rushed. Every movement communicates something whether people realize it or not.Control is perception.Perception is power.I sit.Swear the oath.The prosecutor approaches.“Mr. Palmer, did you authorize the transfer of funds on March 18th?”“Yes.”A small ripple moves through the room.Good.Let them think that was easy.“Under what authority?”“Executive contingency protocol.”“And who approv
Step Aside, dear ex Chapter 45
Luke’s POVThe doors of the court closed behind me with a slight final satisfaction.It was not supposed to have sounded so loud.But it did.Louder than the questions. Louder than the judge’s voice. Even more noisier than the quiet that had succeeded my last reply.Responsibility.It was still in my chest like I had gulp-swall-gulp-swall.I was leaving the corridor without having any perception of it, marble floors, pictures in frames, passers-by in suits and good old shoes. All turned into movement and clatter.My hands were shaking.I shoved them into my pockets.I hadn’t shaken on the stand.Not once.But now that it was finished, my body was following me in what I had just done.I would give testimony against my own brother.I did not go out with the rest.The reporters had already been congregated at the front steps. I was able to hear the swell of voices, the clicking of cameras, the harsh jolts of questions at anybody who happened to look to be involved in the case.Instead, I
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