Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Goddess of Divorce Made Me His Boss: Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

Vanya POVThree days had passed since the horrible confrontation at the restaurant, and Richmond had been checking on me every single day. He would call in the morning to ask how I was feeling, take me to lunch or dinner, and even went shopping with me when I needed to buy more clothes for my new life.I had never had a friend like him before. Bernard had always been jealous of anyone who showed me attention, so I had learned to keep people at a distance. But Richmond was different. He was kind without expecting anything in return, and for the first time in years, I felt like I had someone I could really talk to."You don't have to keep taking care of me like this," I said as we sat in a coffee shop downtown. "I know you have your own life and your own job to worry about.""I want to take care of you," Richmond said simply, stirring sugar into his coffee. "You've been through a lot, and everyone needs support during difficult times."I felt my heart flutter at his words. The way he lo

Richmond POVI sat in my office on the top floor of the Fernandez Real Estate building, staring out at the Sacramento skyline, but my mind was completely focused on Vanya. Every conversation we'd had over the past week had convinced me more and more that she was the brave girl who had saved me fifteen years ago, but the question of when and how to tell her the truth was eating me alive.The coffee in my hand had gone cold hours ago, but I barely noticed. I kept replaying our lunch conversation yesterday, when she had told me the story of helping a bullied transfer student. She had no idea that the scared, bookish boy she was describing was sitting right across from her, now grown into a man who had built an empire partly because of the confidence her act of kindness had given him.I wanted to tell her so badly it physically hurt. Every time she smiled at me, every time she thanked me for being kind to her, I felt like I was lying by not revealing who I really was. But something held

Tracy POVI couldn't stop thinking about that man Richmond. Three days had passed since the restaurant confrontation, and his image was burned into my brain like a puzzle I couldn't solve. Something about him was seriously wrong, and it was driving me crazy that I couldn't figure out what it was.I sat in my hotel room with my laptop open, scrolling through every social media post and news article I could find about that night. The videos of our fight were everywhere, and people were talking about it all over Sacramento. But what bothered me most was how many comments were praising Vanya and calling her brave while painting Bernard and me as the villains."Look at this," I said to Bernard, who was lying on the bed watching TV. "Someone posted a close-up video of your ex-wife's boyfriend, and look at the comments."Bernard came over to look at my laptop screen. The video showed Richmond's face clearly as he stood beside Vanya during our confrontation."What am I supposed to be looking

Vanya POVI sat at the beautiful wooden desk in my home office, surrounded by sketch pads, colored pencils, and jewelry design books that I had bought that morning. For the first time in five years, I was drawing again. Really drawing. Not just doodling on grocery lists or sketching ideas that I would hide from Bernard, but actually creating jewelry designs with purpose and passion.The police investigation had turned out to be a false alarm. When I went to the station, Detective Martinez explained that they had received anonymous tips about my finances, but after my longtime friend Marcus provided them with legal documentation showing my financial status was legitimate, they quickly determined that all the accusations were baseless. They even apologized for the inconvenience and suggested I might want to consider filing harassment charges against whoever was spreading lies about me.Marcus had been such a blessing through all of this. We'd been friends since childhood, and when I nee

Vanya POV"A reporter?" I asked Marcus, my heart sinking. "What kind of story are they planning to run?""They're claiming you're involved in some kind of scandal," Marcus said over the phone. "Someone has been feeding them lies about how you got your money and your relationship with Richmond. We need to meet tomorrow morning to discuss how to handle this."After I hung up, Richmond looked at me with concern. "Are you okay?""Someone is trying to destroy my reputation," I said, feeling frustrated and scared. "But I don't understand why reporters would be interested in my personal life.""Don't worry," Richmond said firmly. "We'll figure this out together. No one is going to hurt you while I'm around."His protective tone made me feel safer, but I couldn't shake the feeling that things were about to get much worse before they got better.That was yesterday. Today, I was standing in the Sacramento Art Gallery, surrounded by my first jewelry exhibition. I had worked for two weeks straig