2025-08-29 07:05:03
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Victoria fall
Chapter 10: Victoria's FallVictoria's credit card was declined at the fourth hotel she tried. The clerk, a tired-looking woman in her fifties, handed it back with the practiced sympathy of someone who'd seen this situation before."Do you have another card?"Victoria had three more cards in her wallet. All of them were maxed out or frozen. "No. Thank you anyway."She walked back out into the Manhattan evening with her suitcase and her phone showing 23% battery. The cheap hotels near the airport wouldn't take her. The mid-range places downtown had looked at her designer luggage with suspicion—clearly someone running from something. And now even the budget chains were turning her away.It was 7:43 PM and Victoria Sterling-Chen, who'd woken up this morning in a penthouse apartment, had nowhere to sleep.Her phone rang. Her mother. Victoria almost didn't answer, but some masochistic part of her needed to hear her family say they'd made a mistake, that of course she could come home, that
the Chen family emerge
Chapter 9: The Chen Family EmergesThe Chen family estate sat on twelve acres in the Hamptons, behind gates that opened with facial recognition and security that made the Secret Service look casual. Alex hadn't been here in three years, two months, and seventeen days. Not since the morning he'd told his grandfather he was getting married and wanted to do it without the family name attached.The old man had called him a fool. Turned out he'd been right.Alex's car pulled up to the main house at 2:34 PM. Before he could get out, the front door opened and Marcus Chen appeared, looking exactly like what he was—the oldest son who'd taken the traditional path, run the family business competently, and never once questioned whether he wanted the life that had been planned for him."Three years," Marcus said, not bothering with hello. "Three years you ghost the family, and you come back because your wife cheated on you?""Good to see you too, brother.""I'm serious, Alex. Do you have any idea
morning after
Chapter 8: The Morning AfterVictoria woke up at 6:47 AM to sunlight cutting through curtains that Alex had forgotten to close before he left. For three seconds, she thought it was a normal Tuesday. Then reality crashed back in waves.Her husband was a billionaire. She'd been cheating on him for three months. He knew everything. David Morrison was in federal custody. And she had until noon to pack one suitcase and leave.She reached for her phone out of habit and found seventeen missed calls. Her mother, her father, her brother James, several former colleagues, and three numbers she didn't recognize. No calls from Alex. Not one.The first voicemail was from her mother, timestamped at 11:52 PM."Victoria, your father and I need to speak with you immediately. The Morrison situation has created serious problems for our business. Call me back the moment you get this."Not "are you okay" or "we're worried about you." Just business problems.Victoria deleted it and moved to the next message
fAir
Then you would have loved my bank account instead of me. Just like you loved David's apparent wealth instead of him." Alex turned back to face her, and Victoria saw something pitiless in his expression. "At least this way, I know exactly what our marriage was worth to you." "That's not fair—" "Fair?" Alex's voice rose for the first time, carrying three years of suppressed anger. "Was it fair when you let your brother humiliate me at every family gathering? Was it fair when your mother treated me like the help? Was it fair when you spent fifteen thousand dollars on a watch for your lover while telling me we couldn't afford a vacation?" Each accusation landed like a slap. Victoria realized she was crying, but the tears felt useless against the weight of Alex's cold fury. "I'm sorry," she sobbed. "Alex, I'm so sorry. I didn't know—" "You didn't want to know. There's a difference." Alex moved to the sideboard and poured himself a scotch—Macallan 25, she noticed now, another expensive
price of betrayal
# Chapter 6: The Price of Betrayal Victoria stood alone in the dining room for seventeen minutes, watching the candles Alex had lit slowly burn down while her world reorganized itself around a truth she'd never seen coming. Her husband wasn't who she'd married. The question was: who exactly had she been living with for three years? At 8:02 PM, her phone erupted with calls. David's name flashed on the screen again and again, each missed call accompanied by increasingly desperate text messages. *Victoria, where are you? I need to see you.* *Baby, please answer. Everything's falling apart.* *My father's cutting me off. The company's finished. I need you.* The desperation in his words should have moved her. Three hours ago, it would have. The passionate, confident David Morrison she'd fallen for would never have sent messages like these—pleading, weak, clinging to her like a life preserver. But then again, three hours ago she'd thought Alex was a struggling marketing coordinator
moment of Truth
# Chapter 5: The Moment of TruthThe penthouse smelled like jasmine rice and lemongrass when Victoria stepped through the front door at 7:43 PM. For a moment, standing in the marble foyer with her heels clicking against stone that cost more per square foot than most people's cars, she felt like she was stepping back in time.Back to when coming home meant warmth instead of guilt, when the sight of Alex in the kitchen meant comfort instead of complicated emotions she couldn't name."Perfect timing," Alex called from the dining room, his voice carrying that gentle warmth she'd somehow forgotten how to appreciate. "I was just plating everything."Victoria set down her purse and walked toward the sound of his voice, her steps slower than usual. The dining room table was set for two with their wedding china—the Waterford crystal they'd registered for but never used because it seemed too precious for ordinary nights.Tonight, apparently, wasn't ordinary.Alex emerged from the kitchen carryi
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