All Chapters of The Divorced Media Empire Heiress: Chapter 1 - Chapter 6

My phone buzzed on the marble counter, lighting up with a message from an unknown number. I almost ignored it, spam, probably, but the preview showed a thumbnail that made my stomach drop before I even tapped the screen.I opened it.Damian. Shirtless. Sheets tangled around his waist. Lila Thorne curled against his chest, her blonde hair spilling over his shoulder as she belonged there. His arm was draped around her the way it used to drape around me. The timestamp in the corner read three nights ago. 2:17 a.m.My knees buckled. I caught the edge of the kitchen island just in time.The penthouse was quiet except for the low hum of the city thirty floors below. Rain tapped the floor-to-ceiling windows like it knew what was coming. I stared at the photo until my eyes burned, waiting for it to turn into something else, Photoshop, a bad angle, a cruel joke. It didn’t.Four years of marriage. Four years of late nights I excused, of “board meetings” that ended at dawn, of smiles I forced wh

The courthouse steps were slick with leftover rain when I stepped out of the black SUV.Cameras flashed before my foot even hit the pavement.“Ms. Voss! Elena! Over here!”Voices shouted my name as they owned it. Phones and lenses shoved forward, bodies pressing in from every side. I pulled the hood of my coat up higher, but it didn’t matter. They already knew why I was here.I kept my head down and moved fast toward the entrance. Security parted the crowd just enough for me to slip through. The noise dropped the second the heavy glass doors closed behind me, muffled now, like bees behind thick glass.My lawyer, Claire, waited inside the lobby. Tall, sharp suit, sharper eyes. She handed me a coffee without asking if I wanted it.“You look like hell,” she said.“Thanks.” I took a sip. It burned my tongue. Good. I needed the sting.She glanced at her watch. “Nine-fifteen. We’re early. The judge’s clerk said we can go straight to the signing room. Damian’s lawyer confirmed he’ll be here

The elevator dinged on the forty-second floor of Victoria’s building, and before the doors even finished opening, I heard her heels clicking fast across the hardwood.“Get in here, you badass!”Victoria Hale, my best friend since college, twenty-eight, zero filter, grabbed my wrist and yanked me into her loft like I was late for my own party. She wore ripped jeans and a silk camisole, hair piled on top of her head in a messy knot, but the energy coming off her could’ve powered half of Manhattan.She shoved a flute of champagne into my hand. Bubbles raced up the glass like tiny fireworks.“To freedom,” she said, clinking her glass against mine so hard I thought it might crack. “And to the bitch who finally stopped apologizing for breathing.”I took a long sip. The cold fizz burned down my throat in the best way.“I signed the papers,” I said.“I know. Theo texted me screenshots of the headlines. ‘Heiress Dumps Billionaire in Dramatic Courthouse Showdown.’ Iconic.”I laughed, really sur