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.


My throat constricted as I stared at the crimson stains scattered across the pristine marble. The air felt too thin, as though someone had sucked all the oxygen from the room. Every breath came in shallow gasps while the elegant walls of our home seemed to shrink around me.


I tried to call out, to make any sound at all, but my voice had abandoned me completely. My fingers trembled violently, no longer feeling like they belonged to my body, while my legs remained frozen in place as if the floor had turned to quicksand beneath my feet.


Through the blur of tears gathering in my eyes, I followed that terrible scarlet path. Each crimson drop felt like a physical blow to my ribs, stealing what little breath I had left, leading me toward a truth I wasn't ready to face.


Chapter 37 - Chapter 37 She Is Gone