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.


"If he actually cared about her, he wouldn't have shown up to her school with Delia hanging on his arm," I snapped, my words cutting through the air like broken glass. Each syllable left a bitter aftertaste, as if I'd been forced to choke down something toxic.


"But Camilla, he still showed up," Eden replied, her voice gentle yet unwavering. "I think that's what counts right now. There are fathers out there who completely abandon their children and vanish without a trace."


I spun around to face her completely, wrapping my arms around myself like armor. "Are you seriously defending him right now? Because I honestly can't tell whose corner you're fighting in anymore," I fired back, my frustration spilling over like water from a cracked dam.


Chapter 26 - Chapter 26 Swallowing Pride