جميع فصول : الفصل

~ Thea’s POVMonths had passed since Stellan and I got married. The gruelling, triumphant completion of my university degree had all seamlessly folded into the beautiful reality of our new life.I stood at the edge of the polished marble walkway, my black stiletto heels sinking slightly into the soft grass.I was wearing a sharp, tailored black wool coat, belted securely at my waist. But the black I wore today was not the heavy, suffocating shroud of despair that had entirely swallowed me a year ago. It was a statement of elegance, of respect, and of absolute, unyielding survival.Because I was no longer the terrified, orphaned girl who had stood in this exact spot, surrounded by corporate vultures waiting to pick my father’s legacy apart.I was the Queen of the Vaughn Empire. I was the proxy CEO, a graduate of advanced system architecture, and the fiercely protective matriarch of the most powerful family in New York.And I was a mother.I looked down, a profound warmth instantly flo