All Chapters of Shattered Vows: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

CHAPTER 31 – THE BOARD MEETING(Althea’s POV)The elevator ride up felt like it lasted hours. Every ding of the floor indicator sounded like a countdown, like the universe was warning me of what I would face. I gripped my purse strap so tightly my knuckles whitened, my nails pressing into my palms. My mind spun in a hundred directions, but all of them ended at the same point: Damian.Damian. My husband. My boss. The man who had slowly begun to unspool my world like threads from a fragile tapestry. And now, I was about to sit in a room full of men and women who only saw me as the employee who could be cast aside, silenced, and dismissed.The conference room door loomed in front of me like a wall of glass. I stepped in, carefully, letting my heels click against the polished floor. Everyone was already seated, papers in front of them, laptops open, fingers tapping, eyes darting. A few glanced up at me and smiled politely — bu

CHAPTER 33 – A HOUSE OF LIES(Althea’s POV).The apartment felt emptier than ever that evening. Boxes of my office belongings were stacked neatly in one corner, files and personal items packed, reminders of a life that had been meticulously built—and now dismantled. I didn’t even want to look at them. Each folder, each notebook, each pen felt like a mocking echo of what had been stolen from me.Darius had left earlier, giving me a brief, reassuring nod before slipping out with quiet dignity. He didn’t force conversation; he didn’t try to explain anything I couldn’t hear yet. He simply stayed with me, walked me out, and let me be when I needed silence most. I was grateful. But gratitude didn’t erase the hollow ache in my chest, the gnawing feeling of betrayal that wouldn’t leave.And as I sank onto the edge of my sofa, the phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number. Hesitant, I answered.“Althea Navarro?”T

CHAPTER 35 – A LETTER FROM DARIUS (Althea’s POV) The envelope arrived on a quiet Tuesday morning, sliding under my door with the kind of subtlety that only someone who knew me well could manage. I found it lying there, crisp and unassuming, yet the weight of its presence pressed down on me immediately. No stamp. No return address. Just my name—carefully written in a handwriting that was achingly familiar. I froze. My fingers trembled slightly as I picked it up. The handwriting… there was no mistaking it. Darius. I hadn’t heard from him directly since the Veridian offer, and part of me had been relieved. Distance, after all, could help me think clearly. But now, holding this letter, I felt a twinge of something I wasn’t entirely ready to name—anticipation, dread, hope, fear. I closed the door behind me and sank onto the edge of the couch. The city outside

CHAPTER 35 – A LETTER FROM DARIUS(Althea’s POV)The envelope arrived on a quiet Tuesday morning, sliding under my door with the kind of subtlety that only someone who knew me well could manage. I found it lying there, crisp and unassuming, yet the weight of its presence pressed down on me immediately.No stamp. No return address. Just my name—carefully written in a handwriting that was achingly familiar.I froze. My fingers trembled slightly as I picked it up. The handwriting… there was no mistaking it.Darius.I hadn’t heard from him directly since the Veridian offer, and part of me had been relieved. Distance, after all, could help me think clearly. But now, holding this letter, I felt a twinge of something I wasn’t entirely ready to name—anticipation, dread, hope, fear.I closed the door behind me and sank onto the edge of the couch. The city outside moved with its usual indifferent rhythm. Cars honked

CHAPTER 38 – A BROTHER’S BETRAYAL(Damian’s POV)The truth didn’t arrive all at once.It crept in.Like rot beneath polished wood. Like a hairline fracture spreading through glass until the shatter was inevitable.Damian noticed it first in the silences.The way Darius avoided his eyes.The way conversations stopped when he entered rooms.The way Althea’s name—once spoken freely—now carried weight, hesitation, consequence.It was subtle. Insidious.And it gnawed at him.He stood alone in his office late that night, lights dimmed, city stretched beneath him like a living organism. The letter opener lay idle on his desk, beside a stack of documents he hadn’t touched. His thoughts circled endlessly around the same axis.They know something I don’t.The realization made his jaw clench.Damian Navarro had built his empire on informati