Chapter 2

Rihanna POV

My feet were completely numb, and I could barely feel my toes from inside my wet shoes.

I did not even know how many miles I had walked. I just knew that the image of Valerie holding my son was burned into my brain, keeping me moving even when my muscles were screaming for me to stop.

"Keep going," I whispered to myself, my teeth chattering so hard it hurt. "Do not stop. You can't let them win."

I looked up through the blurry rain and saw the bright canopy of a luxury hotel just a few yards away. Golden light was spilling out onto the sidewalk, looking so warm and inviting.

I tried to take another step toward it, but my knees completely gave out. The sidewalk rushed up to meet me, and I hit the cold ground hard. I tried to push myself up, but my arms felt like lead. My vision started to go dark at the edges.

"Hey! Miss! Are you okay?" a distant voice shouted.

I heard heavy footsteps running toward me, the sound of car doors slamming, and then everything went completely black.

When I finally opened my eyes, the storm had stopped.

The blinding light made me blink rapidly, and the smell of clean linen and lavender filled my nose. I was lying in a massive king-sized bed with silk sheets that felt like clouds. I looked up and saw a huge glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling. To my left, a giant floor-to-ceiling window showed a breathtaking view of Central Park, the city lights sparkling like diamonds.

"She is waking up," a man in a white lab coat said, stepping closer to the bed. He adjusted a machine next to me that was quietly beeping. "Your vitals are stabilizing, Miss Taylor. You had severe hypothermia, but we managed to catch it just in time, else it would have been very dangerous and life threatening."

"Where am I?" I asked, my voice sounding incredibly raspy and dry. I tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness hits me, making me crash back to the bed.

"Do not strain yourself, my dear," a deep, familiar voice spoke from the corner of the room.

The doctor stepped aside, and my heart stopped for a second. An old man with sharp gray hair and a perfectly tailored black suit walked over.

He looked older than the last time I saw him, with new lines around his eyes, but his posture was still as straight and intimidating as an emperor.

It was Alistair Taylor. My maternal grandfather and the man I ran away from five years ago.

"Grandfather?" I whispered, staring at him in total disbelief.

Alistair waved his hand, dismissing the team of doctors and bruises. "Give us the room. Now."

The medical team quickly bowed their heads and rushed out, closing the double doors softly behind them. Alistair walked over to the side of my bed and sat down in a plush armchair. He looked at me for a long moment, his eyes filled with a mix of deep sadness and intense anger.

I gulped, feeling like a little kid again.

"You look terrible, Rihanna," Alistair said, his voice shaking just a little bit. "Look at what that pathetic excuse of a man did to you. Look at how they treated my granddaughter."

"How did you find me?" I asked, pulling the warm duvet tighter around my shoulders.

"You're seriously asking me that question? I never stopped watching you," Alistair answered, leaning forward. "Did you really think you could just walk away from the Taylor family and disappear? I knew the day you married that worthless Edrian Sterling. I knew when his company was failing, and I knew you were the one secretly fixing all his business reports while he took the credit. I wanted to step in so many times, but I knew how stubborn you were. You wanted a life built on real love, not money."

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. "Real love. What a joke. They took everything, Grandfather. They used fraudulent medical papers from when I had postpartum depression to steal my shares, my money, and my baby. They even kicked me out into the rain like I was a dog."

Alistair’s face turned bright red with anger, his fists clenching on his knees. "Those absolute bastards! How dare they! The Sterling Group is a speck of dust compared to us. Do they have any idea who you really are? Five years ago, you surrendered your title, but you are still the sole heiress to the Taylor Global Empire. We own the oldest and most powerful banking dynasties in Europe. Don't worry about them my angel. My legal team can destroy them by tomorrow morning!"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "I am calling my lawyers right now. We will launch a massive, public legal assault. We will drag Arthur and Edrian through the mud, expose their fraud, and get my great-grandson back before the week ends."

"No. Stop," I said, my voice suddenly turning ice-cold. I reached out and grabbed his wrist, stopping him from dialing.

My grandfather looked at me, surprised. "Rihanna, they stole your child. They humiliated you. Why are you stopping me?"

"Because a lawsuit is too easy on them," I say, staring blankly at the ceiling as a dark plan started to form in my mind. "If we just sue them, they will hire lawyers, make excuses, and drag it out for years. They might even get sympathy from the public. I don't want a quick legal fight, Grandfather. I want to completely ruin them. I want to watch them lose everything they care about, piece by piece."

Alistair slowly lowered his phone, a small, proud smile forming on his old face. "Now that sounds like my granddaughter. Come on, tell grandpa what you are thinking."

"They think I am a normal, helpless girl with no family and no backing," I said, turning to look at him. "They think they can just replace me with Valerie and keep using the money and success I created for them. So, let them think that. I want to take on a completely new identity. I want to become someone they have never heard of, a ghost from their worst nightmares."

"A new identity is easy to arrange," Alistair nodded. "We can create a flawless background. Who do you want to be?"

"Victoria Taylor," I stated firmly. "Rihanna Taylor is dead. From now on, I am Victoria. I want to change everything about myself. The way I look, the way I talk, the way I carry myself. I am going to build a corporate powerhouse that will crush the Sterling Group under its heel."

"And what about your son, Ted?" Alistair asked softly. "It will be hard to be away from him while you build this trap."

"It breaks my heart," I admitted, a single tear finally escaping my eye, though I quickly wiped it away. "But Edrian loves his public image too much to hurt Ted. Ted will be safe in that mansion for now. And when I come back for my son, the Sterlings won't even have a roof over their heads to keep him in. But to make this work, they can never look for me. They have to believe I am gone forever."

Alistair raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"We need to leak a report to the media," I explained, my eyes turning incredibly sharp. "Tell them that Rihanna Taylor couldn't handle the shame of the divorce. Tell them I killed myself by jumping into the Hudson River during the storm tonight. Make sure the news spreads everywhere."

"Consider it done," Alistair days, standing up from his chair. "My intelligence network will handle the paperwork and erase every trace of your old life. By tomorrow morning, the world will believe Rihanna Taylor is dead. And we will begin your transformation into Victoria."

By evening, my grandfather walked into the room with a small sad smile on his face. "Look at this," he said quietly, handing me a glass of wine.

The screen showed a live entertainment news broadcast in New York. The reporter was standing right outside the Sterling mansion, a big smile on her face.

"In shocking news today," the reporter said into her microphone, "the Sterling Group has confirmed the tragic passing of Rihanna Taylor, the ex-wife of billionaire CEO Edrian Sterling. Sources say she jumped into the Hudson River after a sudden divorce. But the Sterling family isn't letting tragedy slow them down! Edrian Sterling and socialite Valerie Duval have just announced their massive upcoming wedding, celebrating a new multi-million dollar business merger!"

The camera cut to a clip of Edrian and Valerie standing on a red carpet. Valerie was flashing a massive diamond ring, laughing and waving at the cameras, while Edrian looked incredibly proud, holding her tightly around the waist. They looked absolutely thrilled, like a huge, useless problem had finally been removed from their lives.

Alistair watched my reaction closely. "Does it hurt to see them like that?"

I took a slow sip of my wine, staring at Edrian’s smiling face on the screen. A cold, dark smile spread across my own lips.

"Not at all," I said, my voice completely smooth and empty of any pain. "Let them celebrate. Let them think they won. The higher they climb right now, the harder they are going to hit the ground when I drop them."

I put the glass down and closed the portfolio on the table, officially taking full charge of Taylor Global's massive multi-billion dollar capital.

"Get the money ready, Grandfather," I said, looking at him with absolute certainty. "Rihanna Taylor is officially dead. Victoria Taylor is about to take over the world, and the Sterlings are going to pay for every single tear they ever made me cry.”