I was devoted to Tom Collin, a man whose ambition I once admired. I gave up my career, my future, my entire identity for him. I was the perfect wife while he built his empire. But when he reached the top, I became invisible.
Then I found him with her—his college ex, the woman who’d abandoned him when he had nothing. When I confronted him, the man I married vanished, replaced by a monster whose hands left bruises on my skin.
I was finally ready to leave. But I never got the chance. He left our five-year-old daughter, Joy, alone for his mistress. And in his absence, my baby was murdered.
I buried my child, and with her, the weak woman I used to be. In a haze of grief, I let a handsome stranger hold me for one night in Italy—a single moment of oblivion.
Five years later, I live for one purpose: Revenge. Tom Collin will pay for what he did. He has no idea the woman now standing before him. But my new boss… he might. The magnetic CEO of our rival company is the stranger from that night. And he doesn’t know he’s the father of my secret daughter.


The morning light filtered through the thin curtains, but I remained frozen beneath the covers, my eyes fixed on the blank canvas above me. Minutes had passed since consciousness pulled me from sleep, yet my body refused to respond to my mind's commands. This wasn't mere exhaustion - it was something deeper, heavier, settling into my bones like lead.


Friday had arrived with all its unwelcome promises.


The weight in my chest intensified as reality crashed over me in waves. Joy would be spending days at Tom's house, a thought that twisted my stomach into knots I couldn't untangle. I kept telling myself it was just temporary, a brief separation that would end soon enough. But the whispers of doubt grew louder, questioning whether she might start believing whatever poison they fed her about me, whether the bond we shared would slowly erode with each passing day.


Chapter 29 - Chapter 29 Hearts Driven Away