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Author: Moonbunnie
last update Last Updated: 2025-10-21 19:15:27

ARLENE

When I was done explaining, the tension in the room had risen to three times what it was when the conversation started. My father’s cold stare was fixated on Cole.

I had shared only the parts I felt were important for him to hear, deliberately leaving out other details Mirela could potentially use to her advantage later. There was no telling what she’d do with the information she’d just gathered.

As much as I wanted my father to know the kind of person she truly was, now wasn’t the time. This was about shattering his perception of Cole—and judging by his expression, I had done just that.

“How dare you treat my daughter like a piece of shit and have the audacity to come here looking for her?” he snapped, his voice thick with disgust. I could tell he was restraining himself from walking over to Cole and knocking the daylight out of him.

“Mr. Gomez, I… I can explain,” Cole stammered.

I chuckled. “You have an explanation for being an asshole and planning to kill me?”

“Kill you?” Mi
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  • The Lost Heiress's Glorious Return   122

    COLEEverything I said to Arlene and her father had come from a sincere place. When I set out to tell her father that I had confirmed she was my wife, I intended to stick to that part of the story and ask that she reveal the tattoo if she decided to oppose the statement.But the conversation had taken a different turn when she decided to tell the truth about her life as Yasmin. At that point, I knew I had to divulge more information than just, “she’s my wife, and I know it.”As she spoke about her experience, I felt enveloped in shame and realized just how angry she was at me.She had every right to be annoyed—I hadn’t treated her with any decency, and my attempts to come up with excuses for my terrible behavior didn’t make things any easier.I figured it was easier to own up to the fact that I was an asshole and that I was trying to be a better person, given recent circumstances.Mirela, on the other hand, seemed entertained by everything happening in the room. The conversation had s

  • The Lost Heiress's Glorious Return   121

    ARLENEWhen I was done explaining, the tension in the room had risen to three times what it was when the conversation started. My father’s cold stare was fixated on Cole.I had shared only the parts I felt were important for him to hear, deliberately leaving out other details Mirela could potentially use to her advantage later. There was no telling what she’d do with the information she’d just gathered.As much as I wanted my father to know the kind of person she truly was, now wasn’t the time. This was about shattering his perception of Cole—and judging by his expression, I had done just that.“How dare you treat my daughter like a piece of shit and have the audacity to come here looking for her?” he snapped, his voice thick with disgust. I could tell he was restraining himself from walking over to Cole and knocking the daylight out of him.“Mr. Gomez, I… I can explain,” Cole stammered.I chuckled. “You have an explanation for being an asshole and planning to kill me?”“Kill you?” Mi

  • The Lost Heiress's Glorious Return   120

    ARLENEIt took every ounce of self-control I had to walk past Cole and step into my dad’s home office instead of making a run for the front door.Once I stepped out of my room, I decided it was time to face the reality staring me in the face.There was no escaping it now, and if I had known it would come knocking this soon, I would’ve pushed for the marriage to happen earlier than it did.I entered the office and waited for everyone else to follow. When Mirela walked in, I resisted the urge to yell at her to get out.She was the mastermind behind this situation—if she hadn’t invited Cole, everything else would’ve been easier to deal with. But then again, when has life ever dealt me a good hand?My dad took his seat as Cole gently shut the door behind him. Soon, all I could hear was the ticking of the clock in the room and the heavy silence that held a thousand questions I wasn’t ready to answer.“Now that we’re all here,” my father began after a long silence, glancing at Cole before r

  • The Lost Heiress's Glorious Return   119

    COLE“Mirela, this better be really important. I was in a very—” I overheard Mr. Gomez say as he and his wife walked down the hallway toward where I stood.“I promise you, my darling, I would never pull you out of your meeting over something trivial. This is equally important—if not more significant—than the meeting you just left,” came the reply, and I shifted my weight from one foot to the other.“What could possibly be more important than my meeting? Why couldn’t you tell me while I was in there? Do I really have to step out of my office to hear it? It better be a life-or-death situation,” he responded, and I ran my hands through my hair as the voices drew closer.Standing there, listening to them go back and forth as they approached, I began to doubt my stance on the issue a little. What if I was wrong, and it was a different tattoo?I shook my head slowly. It wasn’t different. I had seen it too many times to mistake it—it was the same one.And if it wasn’t, all she had to do was

  • The Lost Heiress's Glorious Return   118

    ARLENEI stood with my back to the door once it was locked. The sound of it shutting echoed throughout the house and made me jump slightly.I restrained myself from banging my fist against it, but there was no denying that I was frustrated beyond reason.“What the hell just happened?” I muttered under my breath and pinched my arm in hopes that this was a terrible dream. But unfortunately, I was wide awake, and the worst had happened.It was unnerving that Cole had come in here while I was changing my clothes, but what was more disturbing was that he had seen the tattoo.He saw it, and all my attempts to play it off as him being drunk and to fixate on the fact that he was in my room—which was a perverse thing to do—had been swept under the rug.The memory of his eyes beaming with realization when he recognized the tattoo flashed through my mind, and I groaned.When he had mentioned telling my family about what he had seen, I felt a cold chill envelope my body. I struggled to maintain m

  • The Lost Heiress's Glorious Return   117

    COLEShe was clearly annoyed, but beyond that look, there was something else in her expression—the realization that I had caught onto her façade.She stuttered for a split second, and that’s when I knew I was right. I couldn’t help the smile that stayed on my face.I hadn’t entered her room intentionally. That was an honest mistake. I’d spent the day getting brunch at a high-end restaurant, then started visiting the bars in the city after my meeting with Liam Walker.But I hadn’t drunk enough to make me hallucinate. Most of the time I was in there, I was thinking about what Liam had said and the implications if anyone else believed I had killed Yasmin.I tried to distract myself by observing the people who came in and out—if I was going to turn the new property into a bar or casino, I needed to be sure it was the right move. There was a lot to consider, and I was weighing my options.I had also been thinking about Arlene. The resemblance she bore to Yasmin was far too uncanny for her

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