###Chapter 14
I didn’t answer Victor right away.
There was too much inside me-too much venom and too many scars.
I hated Piper. The woman who had destroyed my mother, slowly and deliberately. I hated my father, the man who abandoned us. And Colin… God, I hated him most of all.
For the lies.
For the betrayal.
For pretending to love me while feeding me to the wolves.
I wanted to see them fall. I wanted to watch them lose everything-wanted to destroy Piper with my own hands and make Colin feel what he made me feel.
But Victor?
I barely know him.
Behind his sharp smile and calm voice was a storm I didn’t understand. An old, ruthless war between two empires, blood-soaked and ugly. Marks Corp. vs. the Keanes. Titans clashing behind glass towers.
I wasn’t sure I could survive getting pulled into something like that. I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
Victor seemed to read that from my silence. He didn’t push.
He sat quietly for a moment, then placed his champagne glass down and stood.
“No rush,” he said simply. “Think it over.”
He pulled out a sleek, minimal business card and laid it gently on the coffee table.
Then, just as he reached the door, he paused. Turned back.
“Oh,” he said, casually. “There’s something I think you’ll want.”
He tapped his phone. “Bring it up.”
A few minutes later, someone knocked.
A young man appeared at the door, slightly out of breath. He carried something cradled in his arms-white, heavy, carefully bundled.
“Miss Ward,” he said respectfully, “your wedding dress.”
My breath caught.
My eyes locked on the ivory fabric, unable to blink.
There, embroidered along the hem, delicate cherry blossoms shimmered in silver thread. Familiar. Gentle. Painfully, achingly familiar.
My mother had sewn those herself.
Tears rose without warning, burning hot and fast. My vision blurred.
“I… I thought it was gone. Piper…” I could barely speak. My voice came out broken. Fragile.
Victor’s voice cut gently through the fog. “It was ruined. She shredded it. But money can do a lot
of things. Even bring a pile of fabric back to life.”
He smiled faintly-nothing cocky or smug. Just real. Warm. Kind.
“This was your mother’s gift to you,” he said quietly. “Something this beautiful doesn’t belong in the trash.”
Colin never tried to fix it.
The moment Piper destroyed it, he tossed it aside like it meant nothing-like I meant nothing. He ordered a new one without a second thought. Because to him, a wedding dress was replaceable. A bride was replaceable.
Pain? Memory? Sentiment?
Those things weren’t part of the equation.
But Victor… Victor had restored what I thought was lost forever.
Not just with money.
It took care. Understanding. Respect.
He hadn’t known my mother. Had no reason to help me.
And yet, he gave me a miracle.
Something even the man who once claimed he loved me couldn’t be bothered to do.
Because Colin never saw me. Only the version of me that fit in his curated world. A woman to display. To mold. To control.
Victor’s assistant stepped forward, gently placing the dress in my arms. The weight of it nearly buckled my knees.
It was warm. Real. Whole.
I pressed it to my chest and sobbed.
“Thank you,” I whispered, barely able to breathe. “Really…thank you, Victor.”
He shrugged like it was nothing. “Just a dress.”
Then, with a half-smile, he added, “I think your mom would rather see you smile when you wear it.”
His assistant stepped out and Victor followed.
He lifted a hand in farewell, then disappeared down the hallway.
***
Meanwhile, at Colin’s estate…
“All ports, trains, flights-nothing. She’s not in the system.”
The man reporting looked like he was seconds from fainting. Colin’s eyes flared with rage.
“Are you telling me a living, breathing woman just vanished?”
He slammed his fist onto the desk, sending papers flying.
“Find her! I don’t care how-track every footprint, every breath. If you come back empty-handed, don’t come back at all.”
“Yes, sir,” the man stammered, backing away.
“But she wiped her trail clean,” he added quickly. “It’ll take time…”
“I don’t have time!”
Colin’s roar shook the walls.
The staff scurried out in a panic, leaving him alone-seething, furious, trapped in his own
silence.
And behind him, in the shadows of the room-
Piper was smiling.
Radiant.
Triumphant.
Her joy barely contained, threatening to spill over like champagne at a victory toast.
15
