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1405 Words
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CHAPTER 2 — Part 1
Victor pushed the front door open without care…… the wood slammed against the wall with a sharp, hollow echo.
His steps dragged along the floor weakly…… like his bones had lost strength under the weight of humiliation.
His suit, once sharp and arrogant, now hung off his body like a defeated banner…… crushed, wrinkled, rejected.
He could still feel the sting from Emelia’s slap burning on his cheek…… as if her handprint had been branded into his skin.
Every heartbeat felt like thunder inside his chest…… the humiliation circling his mind like a tightening noose.
His breathing was unstable…… shallow, uneven, desperate.
What he heard at the company replayed in his skull…… every syllable stabbing deeper.
‘’Vivian has no right to anything.’’
The words cut through him like a blade…… slicing through the illusions he had carefully built.
He clenched his fists as he paced deeper into the mansion…… anger pumping through him like venom.
What were they trying to say…… Vivian had no right to anything?
Had the universe suddenly turned against him…… or had Vivian been playing him all along?
His pulse raced so fast it felt like his veins were on fire…… humiliation wrapping around him like chains.
Not once did he ever consider that the inheritance might not be his…… not once did the possibility cross his arrogant mind.
He had already lived the wealth in his imagination…… tasted it, wore it, flaunted it.
Now reality slapped him harder than Emilia ever could…… ripping apart his fantasies one by one.
Every step into the house reminded him of the limousine that wasn’t waiting outside anymore…… just abandoned pride and shattered ego.
He smelled Vivian’s vanilla-scented candle burning from the living room…… innocent, peaceful, unbothered.
How could she be sleeping comfortably…… while his world was crumbling?
Victor gritted his teeth, shoulders tensed…… a flicker of rage sparks behind his eyes.
He walked to the living room, palms sweating with agitation…… humiliation gripping his chest tighter with every second.
And there she was…… Vivian.
Curled on the couch, her hair cascading like silk…… her face calm, soft, untouched by the chaos Victor carried.
She looked peaceful…… resting like somebody whose mind wasn’t drowning in disaster.
He stood over her for a moment…… watching her chest rise and fall softly, unaware.
He felt bitterness twist inside him…… because in his head, she was supposed to return holding keys to an empire, not sleeping like someone with nothing to confess.
Without warning he reached down…… his grip aggressive on her shoulder.
He shook her.
Vivian jerked awake…… eyes fluttering open, disoriented and startled.
Confusion clouded her gaze…… like she was trying to piece together where reality stopped and sleep ended.
Her voice trembled, soft and innocent…… “Victor……?”
Victor didn’t give her time to breathe…… his words exploded with frustration.
“Tell me, Vivian…… what the hell is that?”
Vivian blinked…… lost, struggling to catch up.
He leaned closer, voice trembling with rage and disbelief…… “Why is your mother saying you have no right to their properties……?”
Vivian froze instantly.
Her lips parted…… but no words came out.
Tears began forming against her will…… filling her eyes like a rising tide.
Her throat tightened painfully…… as if just the mention of it brought back the weight of that humiliation.
“Victor……” she whispered…… her voice shaking in a way that revealed everything.
She reached out and held his hands…… desperate for support, desperate to soften the moment.
Her fingers trembled as they intertwined with his…… a fragile attempt to hold on to something before everything fell apart.
But before she spoke, the tears escaped…… sliding down her cheeks silently.
“Victor…… I was given nothing.”
The words shattered in the air…… breaking like glass hitting cold tiles.
Victor blinked, stunned…… his mind completely blank for a moment.
It was as if someone had yanked the ground from under his feet…… and left him floating in disbelief.
“What do you mean nothing……?” he asked, voice strained with confusion and panic.
“Vivian, be precise…… because I don’t understand what you are trying to say.”
Vivian inhaled shakily…… and everything inside her crashed.
“Victor…… the day I went for the inheritance……”
The memory pulled her back against her will…… the room around her fading into silence.
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That day felt like a courtroom…… sterile, cold, full of consequences.
Vivian sat rigidly in the expensive leather chair…… hands folded tightly on her lap.
She thought the meeting would be short…… she believed all she had to do was sign and collect what was hers.
The lawyer adjusted his glasses…… flipping to the final page of the will.
Vivian smiled nervously…… waiting to hear her name tied to her father’s empire.
Instead…… she watched his face drop into neutral professionalism.
His voice was painfully calm…… “Mrs. Vivian Darry, according to the final will…… everything has been allocated to Mrs. Emelia Darry.”
Vivian froze…… expression blank, mind numb.
He continued as if her world wasn’t collapsing.
“You are prohibited from entering any Dary properties, residences, or business establishments……”
She couldn’t breathe.
“You may not be seen anywhere connected to the family assets…… unless given permission.”
The room blurred.
Vivian swallowed the pain…… unable to speak, unable to cry, unable to breathe.
Everything she knew…… everything she sacrificed…… vanished.
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The memory dissolved.
Vivian looked up at Victor…… broken, small, helpless.
“Nothing belongs to me…… nothing.”
Victor stumbled backward…… crashing against the side of the car parked in the living room entrance.
He couldn’t process it…… his mind refused to understand.
Not because he cared about Vivian’s loss…… but because every fantasy he built was collapsing.
He thought of the properties…… the cars…… the power.
He thought of the $60 million she had transferred to him…… money he already burned through like wildfire.
His mouth felt dry…… his vision blurred with panic.
Vivian wiped her tears with her trembling fingers…… desperate to salvage hope.
“But Victor…… we can still live, right……?”
Her voice cracked with fragile optimism.
“After all…… the money I gave you…… it’s still there.”
“We can start a normal life…… we can build something together…… we can make it work.”
Victor snapped.
“Shut up, Vivian…… just shut up.”
The cruelty in his voice sliced her open…… deeper than any knife.
“You have no idea where the money is.”
Vivian froze…… eyebrows knitting in confusion and fear.
“I know you used some to buy this mansion……” she whispered…… “but what do you mean nothing is left?”
“I gave you sixty million dollars.”
“What do you mean……?”
Victor’s jaw clenched…… anger and humiliation bleeding into each word.
“Nothing is left.”
“My account is zero.”
“I owe a lot of people.”
“Nothing…… is left.”
Vivian’s knees weakened…… the room felt like it spun.
“What……?” she whispered…… disbelief choking her.
That was when the television screen behind them flickered on…… without anyone touching it.
A security clip began to play.
Victor and Eric…… being dragged out of Dary Industries like trash.
Thrown onto the pavement.
Humiliated in front of everyone.
The sound of the slap echoed once more…… as if mocking him all over again.
Victor flinched at the sight of himself…… powerless and discarded.
His humiliation turned to rage…… and he snapped.
“You see what you’ve caused?!” he yelled, voice shaking like loose glass.
“This is all your fault……!”
Vivian gasped…… hurt stabbing her chest.
“How is it my fault……?” she whispered.
“I lost everything.”
Victor’s voice dropped into dark bitterness…… “Your father left you nothing because you left him.”
“If you had stayed…… if you had done the right thing…… everything would have been ours.”
Vivian’s tears streamed uncontrollably…… her body shaking as she struggled to breathe.
She didn’t speak…… because what could she say to a man who cared only for what she could offer him?
Victor leaned closer…… voice venomous.
“You’ve always been stupid…… since you were born…… and you still are.”
Vivian broke…… collapsing into silent sobs.
There was no mercy.
There was no love.
There was only blame.
- Writer
