Chapter 19
I’m in my office watching that damn footage again. No sound. Just the screen flickering against the dark, the burn of the cigar in my hand, and that fucking video playing over and over like it’s mocking me. Margaret… stepping out the SUV, walking into Harmony’s mom’s house, then smoke rising like a damn omen, and her laughing…laughing on a goddamn phone call while fire danced behind her like a fucking movie scene.
“I deleted this video. I paid millions to erase every trace. So how the fuck did it resurface again?”
Then the door slammed open and in came Margaret–crying again. Hair messed up, makeup running, trembling like a leaf in some designer robe. I didn’t even look at her right away. I just stared at the screen, cigar between my lips.
She screamed, “Harmony’s doing this! She’s trying to ruin us!”
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I took a drag and let the silence answer her before I said, “Aren’t you tired of crying, Margaret?”
She froze. I didn’t lift my eyes from the screen. I didn’t hold her. I didn’t say the usual lines to calm her down. I just let her stand there and feel it.
Because at that moment, something in me cracked.
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I saw flashes in my head I’ve tried to bury. Harmony’s face on our anniversary. The tears in her eyes when she told me she missed her mother. The way she begged me to stop the men I ordered. The way I let them whip her like she was nothing. And how she still stood tall, still smiled when she left me. That smile that didn’t beg. That smile that warned.
“She never lied to me,” I said, more to myself than anyone else. “Not once. And you? You got layers I don’t even know anymore.”
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I stood up. Left Margaret standing there with her mascara dripping and her lies hanging in
the air.
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Walked out of the room without another word, grabbed my keys, and went to my private
bar.
I sat there alone. Poured myself a drink. And pulled out my phone. I watched the most recent clip of Celeste walking the red carpet in that tight red silk gown. She turned to the camera, smiled slowly, and I paused the video. Zoomed in on her eyes. Her jaw. The way she walked like the world owed her blood
“That’s her,” I muttered. “That’s my goddamn wife.”
I didn’t even hesitate. Called my most loyal team. The ones who don’t answer Margaret. Not anymore.
My Husband Begged for My Love after Destroying Me
1/3 55.6%
22:55 Mon, Jul 21
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“No arrests. No cage. Just eyes. I want everything. Her schedule. Her security. Who’s around her. Who’s touching her. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s coming home. I love the version of her now. She thinks she’s stronger? Defying me with that new face and voice?
That’s cute.”
I sipped my whiskey, watching her freeze the camera with one stare.
“She’s still mine.”
C
O
CELESTE’S POV
After I said bye to my brother Aziel on the phone, I looked at myself in the mirror. Tonight was the award gala. The biggest night of my career so far. The night I was supposed to step onto that red carpet not just as some rising actress but as a goddamn storm. I adjusted the sleek black gown Cassian had tailored for me, traced the silver embroidery with my fingers, and let the weight of the night settle on my shoulders like armor. I looked powerful. I looked expensive. And I looked nothing like the woman they tried to erase.
I took a breath and whispered, “This is for her. For me. For the girl who begged and bled and got buried alive in her own marriage.” Then I turned from the mirror and walked out of that room like I belonged in every spotlight this world could offer.
The red carpet? Smooth. Cameras? Flashing like wildfire. Media? Hyped. I answered questions with grace. I smiled, posed, even gave a soft laugh that didn’t feel fake anymore. Because I wasn’t pretending. I earned this face. I built this name.
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But when I went backstage for the change of scene, something felt off. People were quieter. Movement slowed. A few crew members avoided my gaze. That chill in my gut, the one that kept me breathing through the worst nights of my life–kicked in hard.
So I walked slower. Calmer. Eyes wide but my body loose. And that’s when I heard them. Two men. Around the corner near the service hallway.
“Man, she’s smaller in person. This’ll be easy.”
“Just get it clean. No screaming. Knock her out, dump her in the car, and that senator’s envelope is ours.”
“What’s the prize again?”
“Half a million. Just for keeping her quiet till the gala ends. They want her to miss it. Ruin
her rise.”
“Damn. For a pretty face? That Harmony chick must’ve pissed off the wrong people.”
My hand slipped down the slit of my gown and wrapped around the blade Cassian gave me. My fingers didn’t tremble. I waited.
One of them chuckled. “She won’t even know what hit her. I got the chloroform. You grab, I
Cheater 10
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cover.”
They stepped out. First guy came fast, trying to throw the cloth over my face.
Wrong move.
I twisted under his arm, jammed my elbow straight into his throat, and shoved his head so hard into the concrete wall the sound echoed like thunder. The second one charged and grabbed my arm.
Let him.
I dropped low, hooked my leg behind his, slammed my knee into his shoulder till it popped, then flipped him backwards into a metal rack. Chairs crashed. He screamed.
My gown was ripped at the thigh. There was blood on my heel. But I was still standing.
One of them groaned, trying to crawl. “Bitch… you’re dead… we were just… paid to delay-”
I leaned down, grabbed him by the collar, and hissed, “I’ve already died. You’re late.”
Then I tossed him back like trash and stood tall, chest rising, blade still in my grip.
No one came.
No one helped. Because I didn’t need them.
I looked down one more time and whispered, “Don’t worry, I’ll tell your boss that next time… She send someone ready to die for her.”
Chapter 19
