All Chapters of Falling For My Ex Husband’s Uncle Wasn’t Part Of My Plan : Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

New York woke up to the story before sunrise. The first articles appeared while most of the city was still asleep, posted by entertainment blogs and society columns whose editors had clearly been tipped off the night before and had spent the dark hours preparing their copy. By the time morning commuters were checking their phones on the train, the headline was everywhere. HARGROVE HEIR CALLS OFF WEDDING. SOCIALITE BRIDE ACCUSED OF INFIDELITY. HARGROVE FAMILY SILENT AFTER SHOCK ENGAGEMENT COLLAPSE. The internet filled in every blank it could find with rumor, half-truth, and creative invention, like always whenever something scandalous landed in its lap. People who had liked Lena’s engagement announcement posts were now sharing the scandal articles. The comment sections were already hundreds of entries deep before eight o’clock in the morning. The Hargrove estate still had the same carefully maintained facade that the Hargrove name had maintained for decades. Workers moved throu

Nadia POV It had been exactly three weeks since the Hargrove scandal broke across every news platform in the city. Whatever was happening in that house, whatever fallout was spreading across the city’s gossip columns, it had nothing to do with the collection I was building or the team that was counting on me to have direction and focus and something worth working toward. So I kept my focus exactly where it belonged. I arrived early that morning, and made coffee before anyone else came in, then I sat down at my desk with the newest sketches spread in front of me. The studio was quiet at that hour, just the soft city sounds coming through the high windows. By the time my team started filtering in around nine, I had already reviewed the first section of the new collection and made notes on three pieces that needed reworking before we could move further. One of my assistants, a young woman named Jess, was enthusiastic and talented and completely unable to hide her feelings about any

Several weeks had passed since the engagement collapsed, and the Hargrove house had settled into the usual quiet that only came when it was just the Hargroves. Lena was gone. Her family had taken her out of the country quietly, to let time do the work that nothing else could. She would have her baby somewhere private, somewhere the cameras couldn’t find her, and eventually, when enough other stories had replaced hers in the news cycle, she would return to a city that had mostly moved on. Vivienne had locked herself inside her wing of the estate and was not receiving visitors, not answering calls from anyone except the lawyer she had retained to manage the remaining logistics of the cancelled wedding. People who tried to reach her were told she was unavailable. She was available. She simply had nothing to say that she was willing to say out loud yet. Richard spent longer hours at the office than he had before, arriving before most of his staff and leaving after the building had quie

Nadia POV I called Richard on a Wednesday morning, while my studio was buzzing with the usual noise of a workday in full motion. I had been thinking about making the call for almost two weeks. Picking up the phone, putting it back down, telling myself I needed more time to think about it, then thinking about it until I came back to the same answer every single time. He deserved to hear it from me. Before anyone else. Before any version of this story reached him from a direction he didn’t choose. He picked up on the second ring. “Nadia,” he said with so much warmth. “This is a pleasant surprise.” “Hi, Richard.” I kept my voice calm. “I’d like to speak with you. In private. I have something I need to share with you, and I’d rather do it in person than any other way.” There was a brief pause on his end. “Of course,” he said. No questions asked. Just yes. “When were you thinking?” “Tomorrow, if that works. After business hours.” “I’ll have my assistant clear my schedule on time,

The Hargrove estate was quiet that morning. Too quiet. Vivienne noticed it the moment she stepped out of her room. Usually by this hour the staff would already be moving through the halls, carrying trays, opening curtains, doing the small quiet things that kept a house like this one running without anybody having to think about it. But today there was nothing. No footsteps. No voices from the kitchen. Just silence, stretching from one end of the house to the other, like the whole estate was holding its breath for something. She didn’t think much of it at first. She told herself it was nothing, some scheduling mix up with the staff, something she would deal with later. She had bigger things on her mind that morning anyway, or so she believed. Then Richard’s assistant found her near the stairs. “Mrs. Hargrove,” the woman said. “Mr. Hargrove asked if you could meet him in his study. Right now, if possible.” Vivienne frowned slightly. “Did he say what for?” “No, ma’am. But I think i