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Chapter 2
I knew he was allergic to peanuts. We didn’t even have them in the villa. So where in the world did he get his hands on them? And more importantly, where did he learn to lie so convincingly?
This wasn’t just some childish prank–he had an agenda. The little brat was out to ruin me, to tarnish my reputation until I was forced to bow out and let Eloise waltz in to claim my life.
That Eloise… she didn’t care that my son nearly died. She didn’t care that it was me who carried him in my arms, rushed him to the hospital, and probably saved his life. None of that mattered. Because now that
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same kid was going around telling everyone I’d deliberately fed him peanuts–that I’d tried to kill him.
As I dragged my thoughts back to the present, I realized my anger had burned ⚫ out. Its absence left only a heavy pit of
disappointment.
I looked him in the eye and said flatly, “I’ll be there on time.”
That was all. No theatrics, no emotion. Just a steady calm.
Then, pulling out my phone, I shot off a text to my three adopted kids: [Phase one begins.]
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When Saturday rolled around, I strutted into the hot spring hotel with the sharpness of a blade fresh off the grindstone. My eyes scanned the room until they landed on faces I could never forget.
My step–sister Eloise. My ex–husband Orson. And, of course, the pair who called themselves my parents.
Milo Hawkesworth, my father, had stepped out on my mom while she was still alive. His mistress–Coraline Reeve–was the result of his indiscretions. She gave birth to Eloise, two years younger than me but leagues ahead in shameless ambition.
When my mom eventually succumbed to her illness, Milo didn’t even bother pretending
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to grieve. He installed Coraline in the housee before the dirt on the grave was cold.d Overnight, she became the new lady of the e Hawkesworth estate.
But Coraline was more than just a mistress with ambition; she was a master manipulator. Sizing up opportunities like a predator stalking prey, she cozied up to the powerful Griffin family just in time to secure a marriage proposal between Eloise and Orson Griffin.
For a while, Eloise’s path seemed golden. Everyone assumed her marriage to Orson, heir to one of the wealthiest families around, was a done deal. But life, unlike Coraline, doesn’t always play by a schemer’s rules.
The Griffins‘ fortunes collapsed when their
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tech investments failed catastrophically. Suddenly, their “golden assets” turned into unsellable junk, and without cash to stay afloat, they were on the verge of ruin.
Desperate, the Griffins turned to the
- Hawkesworth family for financial aid. But Coraline–ever the tactician–whispered poison into my father’s ear. Citing their “own constraints,” Milo refused to lift a finger.
The Griffins, abandoned and out of options, crashed hard. Their company, Griffergy Tech, folded, and bankruptcy became both their sentence and their shame.
Yet with the marriage already announced everywhere, neither family wanted to be labeled liars who broke promises. So they found a scapegoat.
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Me.
I was “persuaded” to take Eloise’s place at the altar and marry Orson. A wealthy tycoon turned penniless debtor.
Back then, we hit rock bottom together. Strapped for cash, we sold whatever we could from a small street stall and cut coupons like our lives depended on it. My wardrobe came from discount bins, and our meals were whatever hadn’t sold by closing time. Our apartment was a dingy shoebox, but we made it work.
And oh, the media had a field day. Headlines stamped our faces everywhere: [Once a CEO, Now a Street Vendor. The Fall of Orson Griffin] and [Bankrupt Couple’s Daily
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Struggles.]
But we didn’t quit. We clawed our way through sunrise–to–midnight workdays, shoulders stiff from pushing through exhaustion. I shed twenty pounds off an already–thin frame. Orson cried one night after wrapping his arms around me and feeling nothing but bones. Through his tears, he swore–swore–that he’d fight to give me a better life.
And you know what? Little by little, we made
- it.
The day I found out I was pregnant–twins, at that–I felt like the sun was finally shining for us. We didn’t stop smiling for weeks. Orson worked harder than ever to give us a future.
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BuBut life’s cruelty wasn’t done with meneyet. WWhen went into labor, complications sekep menie in agony for over 24 hours before itefinfantil: passssed out. Emergency surgery saveded menerand the twins, but it left me drained–d- physisadally emotionally, financially.ly
It didnitdeteter me. Once I recovered, I began studying in industry trends. When I spotted an opening in isosatlar energy, I convinced Orson to gamble leveverything we had. Luckily, the e gamble paid iofofWWe soared higher with ever passing yearantnih the ashes of our old life were long forgotteren.
Success should’ve lodeeen the happy ending, but it wasn’t. Behindhchyniyaback, while I built our empire and raised duonchildren, Orson had found his way back totblEloise’s bed.
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And the worst betrayal of all? My own children–my flesh and blood–helped him hide it. The very twins I’d nearly died giving birth to had chosen him.
When Milo and Coraline heard about the affair, they didn’t condemn it. They didn’t apologize. No, they defended it.
“Clarisse” Coraline began, voice dripping with false sympathy, “Eloise can’t have kids. It’s not her fault; her body just… isn’t built for it. And Orson? He’s a good man–the kind she’ll never find again. Don’t forget, darling, he was supposed to marry her in the first place. Eloise deserves happiness, and the kids clearly love her. We’re all family here. Why don’t you be gracious and step aside?”
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