STRIPPED OF EVERYTHING
1386 Words
Vivian stepped into her billion-dollar mansion with a heaviness clinging to her bones like a second skin, the marble floor gleaming beneath her feet as if mocking the unraveling of her life….
The soft golden lighting cast long shadows across the vast, quiet space, and the silence wrapped around her like a cold blanket that felt more like punishment than peace….
She paused in the hallway, the clicking of her heels echoing through the emptiness as she whispered to herself, “Is this freedom or loneliness?”….
The mansion was hers…at least on paper…along with her beauty, her designer wardrobe, and the sixty million dollars she believed she still had tucked safely in her account….
She had Victor…. or so she thought….
She had everything she once prayed for, yet something enormous felt ripped straight from her chest, leaving her with a hollow ache she couldn’t name….
The silence grew louder, curling around her like a reminder of every bridge she had burned to be here….
She sank into her plush, custom-designed velvet couch, burying her face in her hands as if she could trap her spiraling thoughts before they consumed her whole….
Her breathing grew uneven, each inhale sharp and trembling, each exhale thinner than the last….
“It’s fine, Vivian,” she murmured to no one, her voice cracking under the lie. “You just left…. you’ll be fine…. you’ll build your own life…. your own family…. you’ll forget everything…. move on…. that’s what people do.”
She rose slowly and dragged herself toward the kitchen with the desperate hope that drinking water would clear the fog choking her mind….
But the moment she stepped inside, she froze….
The shelves were empty…. no groceries…. no snacks…. not even a single bottle of water…. only dusty glasses and a forgotten wine bottle sitting like a relic of better days….
“Oh this is not it…. whewww,” she exhaled, grabbing her phone with shaky fingers as she walked back to the living room.
Her hands navigated the food and essentials app with a familiarity born from privilege, placing orders for groceries, hygiene items, coffee, comfort snacks, candles—anything that could make the mansion feel less like a tomb….
She pressed the checkout button….
Nothing happened….
The screen glitched once…. then twice…. and then a notification blinked in red: Transaction failed – Insufficient funds.
“What?” she whispered as her heart skipped painfully. “That can’t be right.”
She opened her banking app….
Balance: $0.00
“s**t!” she cried as panic clawed at her chest.
Her hands trembled as she dialed Victor’s number, clinging to hope with bleeding fingers….
Meanwhile, miles away in a dim, high-end hotel suite drenched in the scent of smoke, alcohol, and fading cologne, another world unfolded….
Moans filled the air as Bianca straddled Victor, their bodies tangled in sheets that smelled of sweat and sin….
They collapsed against each other in breathless satisfaction as Victor’s phone vibrated repeatedly across the room, ignored and forgotten on the bedside table….
Bianca lay on his chest, tracing circles lazily across his bare skin as she murmured, “You know…. we have sixty million dollars…. we could run…. disappear…. start over somewhere far away…. just you and me.”
Victor exhaled deeply, stroking her thigh with practiced ease. “I’m working smart, baby…. trust me…. you’ll understand everything soon.”
Bianca’s expression tightened as she sat up. “I hate the thought of you being married to another woman…. what if you fall for her during all this…. pretending?”
Victor cupped her cheek, voice dripping with sincerity he didn’t feel. “Don’t say that…. Vivian may have the money, the mansion, the lifestyle…. but I’m with you…. you’re the one I want…. I don’t even see anyone else.”
“Then make me believe it,” she whispered with trembling lips.
Victor pulled her closer and said, “Vivian is my source of income…. without her I’m nothing…. with her, I can secure our future…. once I get everything I need, it’s you and me forever…. I’ll marry you…. we’ll leave this place…. don’t let her threaten what we have…. you’re the only one I’ve got eyes for.”
He sealed the lie with a kiss on her forehead, and across the room, Vivian’s name flashed repeatedly on his ringing phone, unheard and unwanted….
Hours later, the relentless chime of the doorbell sliced through Vivian’s sleep like a knife….
She rolled over groggily, her mind foggy as she muttered, “Why is the doorbell ringing?…. and where the hell are the bodyguards?”
Then reality struck her…this wasn’t her father’s house…. no guards…. no servants…. just her…. painfully alone….
She glanced at her phone.
6:00 a.m.
“Who the hell shows up uninvited at six in the morning?” she muttered as she pushed herself out of bed.
Only three people knew where she was…Cecilia, Victor, and her parents…and she hadn’t told any of them her exact location….
She opened the door…and froze instantly….
Standing before her was the same woman who had escorted her from Dubai…the stoic assistant of her father…flanked by even more guards than before….
Fear surged through her chest….
But then a fragile, desperate hope flickered….
“Maybe my dad wants to talk,” she muttered. “Maybe now he’ll finally let me marry Victor.”
She stood straighter, masking her relief with anger. “What now?…. go tell my dad I’m not coming back…. I’m cutting all ties with him.”
The woman didn’t blink. “I wasn’t sent to deliver or receive a message, Miss Dary…. my orders are to ensure you leave this property immediately.”
Vivian’s frown deepened as her voice rose. “Well miss, I’m not going anywhere.”
She tried to close the door, but the guards blocked it effortlessly and pushed their way inside, sweeping through the house with chilling precision….
One guard grabbed her suitcase….
Another pulled her designer bags from the closet….
A third held her arms as the rest worked swiftly, efficiently….
“Excuse me?!” Vivian screamed. “Just because my dad said so doesn’t mean you can manhandle me or throw out my things!…. put everything back!”
Nobody listened.
One guard had already begun replacing the door locks.
“What are you doing?!…. stop that!” she yelled, her voice cracking with fear and helpless rage.
The woman sighed lightly before saying, “As of this moment, this property is no longer yours…. it has been confiscated by your father…. you are not to be seen in or around it again.”
Vivian froze completely, her mind blanking as her father’s words thundered back into her ears.
“Either you listen to us or I’ll take back everything I’ve ever given you.”
So he meant it.
Her knees wobbled as the weight of betrayal pressed down on her, suffocating her breath. “My dad?” she whispered, her voice trembling.
“Now, Miss Dary,” the woman said softly. “The car keys.”
Vivian shook her head violently. “I’m not giving you anything.”
The woman turned calmly and instructed her men, “Tow the car.”
“Noooooooo!” Vivian screamed, sprinting toward the driveway. “You can’t take that!…. that’s mine!…. you can’t—please!”
Her screams ripped through the morning air, raw and heartbreaking, but the men didn’t stop as they restrained her….
She thrashed, kicked, cried, begged—but her strength was no match for their hands.
Minutes later, the house was locked….
The car was gone….
And Vivian Dary stood on the sidewalk with nothing but a suitcase and tears streaming down her face….
No money….
No mansion….
No car….
No Victor….
Just silence…. and betrayal….
She collapsed to her knees as the sun rose, its light shining cruelly on her humiliation, her shoulders shaking with violent sobs as the world she built crumbled beneath her….
“How could they do this?” she whispered. “How could they do this to their biological daughter?”
Her pain twisted into fury, her voice ripping from her throat as she screamed,
“This is all your fault, Cecilia!…. is this what you want?!”
Her cry echoed through the empty street…raw, broken, and alone.
- Writer
