From Betrayal To Billions: Her Return

From Betrayal To Billions: Her Return

Barclay Hsu

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The last thing I remembered was the cold, unforgiving pavement rushing up to meet me. A screech of tires, a flash of headlights, and then a profound, empty silence. My life, a cascade of public humiliation and private despair, was over. It all started at the fashion show, the one where my former best friend, Chloe, stood on the runway, wearing a dress that was a near-perfect copy of my signature design. My own design. Chloe' s powerful family painted me as a jealous, unstable wannabe. My revered mentor turned his back on me. Then Mark, my fiancé, delivered the final blow, breaking our engagement, calling me a failure. I lost everything: my reputation, my love, my financial stability. My death was a footnote in a story that was no longer mine. How could I have been so naive, so blind? How could they have moved so ruthlessly to destroy me, to steal everything I had? The crushing loneliness, the descent into poverty and obscurity, all culminating on that dark, wet street. Then, a sharp, disorienting pull. I gasped, my eyes flying open. I was sitting in the front row of the annual Laurent Gala, my hands smooth, my dress my own design. On stage, Chloe was bowing, wearing the stolen dress. It was the night my life had spiraled into ruin. I was back. I had been given a second chance. Not this time.

Introduction

The last thing I remembered was the cold, unforgiving pavement rushing up to meet me.

A screech of tires, a flash of headlights, and then a profound, empty silence.

My life, a cascade of public humiliation and private despair, was over.

It all started at the fashion show, the one where my former best friend, Chloe, stood on the runway, wearing a dress that was a near-perfect copy of my signature design.

My own design.

Chloe' s powerful family painted me as a jealous, unstable wannabe.

My revered mentor turned his back on me.

Then Mark, my fiancé, delivered the final blow, breaking our engagement, calling me a failure.

I lost everything: my reputation, my love, my financial stability.

My death was a footnote in a story that was no longer mine.

How could I have been so naive, so blind?

How could they have moved so ruthlessly to destroy me, to steal everything I had?

The crushing loneliness, the descent into poverty and obscurity, all culminating on that dark, wet street.

Then, a sharp, disorienting pull.

I gasped, my eyes flying open.

I was sitting in the front row of the annual Laurent Gala, my hands smooth, my dress my own design.

On stage, Chloe was bowing, wearing the stolen dress.

It was the night my life had spiraled into ruin.

I was back.

I had been given a second chance.

Not this time.

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My fiancé, Liam, and my brother, Ethan, both fell for the same woman, Chloe. One day, Liam was the man I was going to marry. The next, he looked at me like a stranger. At our engagement party, Liam was an hour late. Then, a picture surfaced of him and Chloe eloping. My world crashed down. To make things worse, Chloe, bandage-clad and tearful, dramatically entered, claiming Liam pushed her. Liam and Ethan, completely taken in, turned on me. "It was Ava," whispered Chloe, and Liam shoved me, causing me to fall and hit my head, bleeding on the floor. My own brother stood over them, his back to me. Two days later, Liam and Chloe showed up, accusing me of my own assault, the man I loved defending the woman who had just lied about me. They were convinced I was the villain, while Chloe was the damsel. I was hospitalized days later with a ruptured appendix, but when I called Ethan, he coldly dismissed me, saying I was "being dramatic," too busy bringing Chloe breakfast. The hospital informed me that my own brother had disowned me. How could two men I loved and trusted so completely be so blind, so cruel? How could my brother abandon me, his only sister, for a woman he'd barely known? I survived. I gathered the last of my strength and resolve. I decided then and there that I wouldn't just disappear; I would rebuild myself, piece by painful piece, into someone they wouldn't recognize, and they would live with the consequences of their betrayal forever.

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The heavy iron gate groaned open, and I stepped out, expecting freedom. After a year inside, I longed for my fiancé, Liam, and our son, Noah. But the drive home to our familiar house revealed a chilling transformation: the paint was wrong, my rose bushes were gone. Then Mrs. Gable, our neighbor, delivered the first blow: "Liam has had his hands full, you know. It was a blessing he had Sarah to help him, especially with her being pregnant and all." Sarah. My brother' s widow. Pregnant. My heart seized. The key didn' t fit, but the door was unlocked. Inside, my home was alien-cold, modern, bare of our memories. And then I saw it: a baby' s playpen, a high chair. Not ours. Creeping to the back patio, I saw Liam, his arm around Sarah, her hand on a very pregnant belly. They looked like a perfect family. My perfect family. Then their words: "Are you sure she won' t cause any trouble? She' s supposed to get out this week." "Don' t you worry about Olivia. I know her. She' s loyal to a fault. She took the fall for us once, she' s not going to make waves now. She knows her place." Us. The word twisted in my gut. The truth hit me: Liam hadn' t made a mistake. Sarah had falsified the architectural plans. They had conspired. Liam had begged me to take the blame, promising a future, swearing he' d wait. I believed him. I sacrificed a year, my reputation, my career, for a monstrous lie. The betrayal shattered my heart, but beneath the pain, a cold, hard anger ignited. They thought I was broken, a loyal fool. They were about to learn how wrong they were.

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My flight home felt endless, a week away from my pregnant wife, Emily, feeling like a year. I pictured her glowing, her smile lighting up the house, ready to welcome me back. But the moment I walked through the door, my world began to fracture. The house was eerily silent, a strange smell in the air, and an overflowing trash can spoke of neglect. Then, Emily' s weak voice called from upstairs, her face pale and clammy, clutching her stomach in pain. At the hospital, a doctor' s cryptic words about "strenuous activity" and needing to be "gentle" left me bewildered, a knot of unease tightening in my chest. I brushed it off, attributing it to stress, clinging to the flimsy explanation when I found a strange bruise on her collarbone-one she vaguely claimed was from clumsiness. But the flimsy facade shattered when I found cigarette ash in our master bathroom sink. I don't smoke, and Emily despises it, making her flimsy explanation about her stepfather stopping by ring hollow. My mother-in-law later confirmed my stepfather-in-law quit smoking years ago, sealing the growing dread in my stomach. Then, my own mother mentioned a new white sedan Emily was seen getting out of, driven by a man-a car I certainly hadn't bought. The pieces clicked into a terrifying mosaic: the doctor' s warning, the bruise, the ash, the unknown man, the mysterious car. But nothing prepared me for the final blow at the doctor' s follow-up: "The fetus is measuring closer to twelve weeks, Mr. Davis." Twelve weeks. A full month older than it should be, a month when I was working fourteen-hour days, thousands of miles away. My world imploded. The doctor wasn't accusing me; he was warning me about her affair. The baby wasn't mine. My wife had cheated, and the life I thought we had built was a cruel, elaborate lie. The man who was supposed to be a father was now the biggest fool. I was a cuckold. And I was going to find out everything.

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