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No Longer Mrs. Cooley: The Architect's Return
I went to the City Clerk’s office for a routine copy of my marriage license to finalize a trust fund audit. I expected a simple piece of paper, but the clerk’s pitying look told me my entire life was a lie. "The license was never finalized, Ms. Oliver. In the eyes of the state, you are single." The three-hundred-guest wedding at the Plaza and the Vogue features meant nothing. My husband, Gray Cooley, had intentionally filed the documents with a "procedural defect" so he could discard me without a legal divorce. Moments later, an iCloud invite titled "Our Little Secret" popped up on my screen. It was a photo of my best friend, Brylee, holding a positive pregnancy test at our Hamptons estate. Gray’s text to her was the final blow: "Happy anniversary, babe. This baby is the best gift. Once the trust unlocks today, we’re done with the charade." I soon discovered they were even stealing my career, reassigning my architectural masterpiece to Brylee while preparing my eviction notice. Gray's mother called me a "barren mule" in a leaked recording, mocking the infertility I suffered after saving Gray’s life in a construction accident. I wasn't a wife; I was a three-year placeholder used to secure his inheritance. How could the man I bled for treat me like a disposable prop? How could my best friend carry his child while pretending to comfort me through my darkest moments? The betrayal burned until it turned into a cold, hard stone of fury. I didn't cry. Instead, I walked into the penthouse of the Barretts, the Cooleys' most powerful rivals. I signed a marriage contract with Kane Barrett, the man the tabloids called the "Beast of Wall Street." "I want a wedding," I told his father, my voice steady and lethal. "Bigger than the one I had with Gray." If they wanted me gone, they would have to watch me become the woman who owns their world.FIFTEEN YEARS AGO
"Mira hide there and don't make any noise ok? No matter what just promise me that you'll stay there" A woman said as she hurriedly took her daughter to the underground basement
"But why mum? What about Elle, why isn't she coming with us?" The little girl asked with a worried look on her face.
She didn't and couldn't understand why her mum would suddenly drag her out of her room and then drag her down to the basement without explaining anything to her, seeing the panic on her mum's face and the tears she was trying so hard to prevent from falling she knew things weren't ok but what could a seven year old actually understand the main issue was?
"Mum is asking you to be a good girl and stay here and don't make any noise. Do this for mum ok? Nothing is going to happen, but just know that mum and dad loves you ok?" the woman answered kissing her hair sobbing lightly
Not knowing what else to do she just nodded her head and entered the inner basement room and locked it from inside as her mum instructed her to before rushing upstairs after kissing her and murmuring the words
"you have to stay alive Mira, you're a Hale and the Hales survive no matter what".
Staying in the dark basement was so creepy for an adult or teenager so much more a little girl like Mira. She just sat at a hidden corner she found when playing hide and seek with Elle her elder sister and hugged her knees counting her numbers in fright
Close to twenty minutes later she could hear gun shots from outside the house and she shivered in fear
Was mummy and daddy ok? Why isn't Elle here with me ran through her head as she covered her mouth with her little fingers to prevent herself from shouting, a little bit later she could hear sounds of punches and beatings then shouts from inside the mansion and she could recognize them.
That was her sister's and mum's voice before she heard a gun shot and her elder sister screaming "Mummy wake up please I'm begging you" in a fragile voice
Then suddenly the noise and commotion she had before stopped
'What happened to mummy, what about dad why couldn't he save their mummy if something was wrong' not able to hold it any longer she rushed out of the basement with her tiny legs carrying her as fast as they could to the sitting room
Hiding behind the door she saw there was nobody there except for Elle and her mum and the scene was bloody there were bruises on both her mum's and Elle's face and body and there was blood on the white cushion and tiled floor
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