###Chapter 12
Because of course it was me.
Who else would know exactly where to hurt him?
Who else had the right?
He had betrayed me again and again. Let Piper worm her way into every corner of my life, even as I stood by him through the ashes of my mother’s murder. He never chose me. Not once. Not even when it counted.
So I gave him clarity.
And now, clarity was crushing him.
The moment he realized I was really gone-really done with him-was the moment his knees gave out beneath him. That arrogant, untouchable man collapsed in front of a hundred stunned guests, his knees hitting the marble floor like stone on bone.
The crowd watched, silent.
He looked like a penitent priest at the altar. But there was no forgiveness coming.
Just guilt. Just shame.
‘Annelise… My wife… Anne…”
He chanted my name like a prayer. Desperate. Pathetic. Too late.
Meanwhile, Piper-her face a mess of smeared makeup and panic-was tugging at him with shaking hands.
‘Colin, stop! That woman’s gone! You still have me!” she cried.
But he couldn’t hear her anymore.
He shoved her aside like she was made of air. Staggered to his feet. Ignored the chaos, the scandal, the whispers.
He pulled out his phone with shaking hands and roared into the receiver, voice hoarse like something dying:
‘Track it! Now! I want the source of that email-every address, every node. I don’t care if you have to dig through hell to find them-do it!”
On the other end, his assistant stammered in terror:
‘Yes, sir-yes, Mr. Marks! We’ll deploy everything. Every asset. We’ll find Miss Ward immediately
-!”
***
Half a world away.
Sunlight poured into the penthouse suite like liquid gold-blinding, warm and far too cheerful for how I felt inside.
I sat curled on a velvet couch, the chill of the champagne glass a sharp contrast to the quiet fire burning in my chest. The floor-to-ceiling windows stretched out in front of me, revealing a new
skyline, a new country, a new life.
The wedding stream had long since ended. Replaced now by the firestorm of social media.
scrolled, skimming headlines one after another, each one louder and more damning than the
last:
#Scandal: CEO’s Sex Tape with Mistress Leaks at Wedding
#A Marks’s Wedding Disaster-Fiancée Gone, Mistress Exposed
#Annelise Ward Flees the Wedding – Betrayed by Husband and Sister
#Piper Ward Confirmed as Mistress – Graphic Video Goes Viral
The tags burned across every platform. In under an hour, the internet had turned into a furnace of outrage and obsession.
[Holy crap, this is the scandal of the year. These rich people are actually insane.]
[Did you hear? Annelise’s mom died because of an organ trafficking ring-and the one who introduced her to those monsters was Piper, her own half-sister!]
[It’s true. I know Annelise and the late Mrs. Joyner. They were kind. Mrs. Joyner once gave me money for school when mine was stolen. She was so kind. She didn’t deserve this.]
[Justice for Mrs. Joyner! Don’t let good people die forgotten!]
[They think money can cover everything? Nah. We want an official investigation. FULL accountability!]
[Protect Annelise Ward. She did what we all wish we could. Queen behavior.]
The internet had taken up arms.
I set my glass down slowly. Walked to the window.
The city looked endless-glass and steel, sunlight bouncing off skyscrapers like mirrors. But I didn’t feel warm.
Not yet.
I spoke softly, voice barely a whisper. Just loud enough for the sky to hear.
“Mom, did you see it? That was only the first step. I swear to you-I’ll make every single one of them pay. For what they did to you… to us… they’ll pay it back in blood and ruin.”
Hiring the hacker. Planning the release. Timing it perfectly. Every piece, every click, every dollar- I’d spent months building that reckoning.
And now Colin, with his trembling hands and his staged regret, thought he could cry his of it?
Not this time.
The drugged milk. The fake marriage certificate. The nights he spent in her arms.
What part of that made him think he deserved redemption?
Then three soft, deliberate taps on the door broke the silence.
I frowned.
Room service?
way out
I approached cautiously, peeking through the peephole.
And my heart stopped.
It wasn’t staff.
The man outside… Tall. Familiar. Dressed in shadows and sunlight. I hadn’t expected to see him
Not here. Not now.
I opened the door slowly, barely breathing.
“You…?” I whispered.
He stepped forward, face calm, eyes sharp.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, voice low and tight.
13
