Chapter 1 - The VIP Suite
Chloe stared at me with a triumphant smirk.
She genuinely believed she had won the power struggle.
She thought I was just a desperate housewife who was about to cry and run out of the building.
Instead, I kept my phone pressed against my ear.
Victor's cold assurance echoed in my mind like a promise of destruction.
I lowered the phone and took Sophia firmly by the hand.
We did not walk toward the revolving glass exit doors.
We walked directly toward the private executive elevators.
Chloe panicked and rushed from behind her mahogany reception desk.
She ordered me to stop immediately.
She threatened to call the police for criminal trespassing.
I ignored her completely and swiped my elite black card on the elevator scanner.
It was a master access card that Victor had given me years ago for emergencies.
The golden doors slid open instantly with a soft chime.
I stepped inside with my daughter and pressed the highest button for the penthouse level.
My heart pounded against my ribs like a trapped bird.
I needed to see this alternate life Dominic had built behind my back.
The elevator chimed again and the doors parted to reveal a lavish banquet room.
Soft jazz music drifted through the air of the elegant space.
Waiters in crisp white shirts carried silver trays of expensive champagne.
I spotted Dominic standing near the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city.
He was wearing the custom Italian suit I had bought him for his birthday.
A beautiful little boy in a tiny tuxedo was sitting on his shoulders.
Dominic was laughing brighter than I had seen him laugh in years.
Then an elegant woman walked up beside him and wrapped her arms around his waist.
She kissed him deeply on the cheek.
When the woman turned her face toward the light, my blood turned to absolute ice.
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It was not a stranger.
It was Elena, my former college roommate who had supposedly moved to Europe five years ago.
