Zoe's dreams of marriage are shattered when she catches her fiance in a compromising situation with his best friend. Devastated, she seeks to recover what she has lost. That's when an enigmatic man, a warm billionaire named Maxime Delacroix, offers her an unexpected solution: a loveless marriage, a contractual alliance with the aim of destroying his ex's career. Although reluctant, Zoe accepts, ready to do anything to get revenge. But as their relationship grows, Zoe realizes that the stakes are more complex than she imagined. Between revenge and a budding passion for this distant man, she finds herself torn between her desire for justice and her budding feelings. How far will she be willing to go to get revenge without losing everything in the process?
Chapter 1 Chapitre 1
Zoe hadn't planned on it being that night. She hadn't planned on how a simple, quiet evening, where everything seemed to be going normally, would turn everything upside down. As she had just returned to their apartment, she had had this strange feeling of being out of sync, an inexplicable impression that something was wrong. She had put it down to the stress of work, to the fact that she hadn't slept enough in the last few days. But now, thinking back to the intuition that had struck her, she wondered how she hadn't been able to perceive it sooner.
She had opened the living room door a crack, her shoes barely put in the entryway, her coat still hanging on the door. It was Victor's silhouette that she had seen, sitting on the sofa, laughing out loud. But it was not a banal laugh, it was that laugh that she knew well: that of a deep complicity, a shared, intimate laugh. He seemed to have forgotten everything else in the world, everything they had built together. But what had immediately captured her attention was not simply the scene, but the presence of Damien, Victor's best friend. This detail, this little something that should never have been there. Damien was not supposed to be there. Zoe knew that it was not normal, but she had not wanted it, she had not wanted to see what she was going to see.
She had approached, unsure of what she would find. But the words had struck like a guillotine. Damien had tilted his head back, bursting into laughter, and his hands were resting on Victor's knees. There was nothing suspicious about that in itself, except that Damien's fingers had lingered a little too close to Victor's thighs, and when he had slid a glance towards his friend's face, he had sketched a smile that had made Zoe shiver from head to toe.
She had seen the moment they had realized she was there. Victor's gaze had frozen, his smile had faded as suddenly as his laughter had. A heavy silence had filled the room. Zoe had frozen in turn, unable to move, unable to scream, unable to understand what had just happened. She hadn't needed words to understand. She knew. It was as if a veil had been torn away, letting her discover a world she would never have thought possible. She had seen their complicity, and she had seen something even more devastating: the way Victor had looked away. As if, in that moment, he had sought to hide a truth that he knew was unacceptable.
Damien had then said, in a voice too calm, too deliberate: "Zoe, wait, it's not what you think." But she didn't want to hear anymore. She had already seen everything, understood everything. Her eyes had filled with tears, but she had forced herself to stay calm, not to burst into tears. Not yet. She didn't want to do them this favor, didn't want to give them the right to see her collapse.
"So it's true..." she had whispered, more to herself than to them. She had taken a step back, then two, until her feet hit the corner of the furniture. She had wanted to run away, but her legs were heavy. She was paralyzed by pain, by disappointment, by humiliation. "How could you..." Zoe's voice had trembled, but she had done her best to make her words carry. She had looked at him, Victor, this man she loved and with whom she had shared so many plans, so many dreams. And this same man was now there, in their living room, laughing with his best friend, as if none of that mattered.
Victor had stood up, moving toward her, but she had pushed him away with a sharp gesture. "Don't come to me." He had hesitated, as if, for the first time, he didn't know what to do. As if, in that suspended moment, he had no idea what he could say to repair what he had destroyed. Zoe didn't have the courage to look him in the eye. She knew she would never be able to look at him the same way again.
"Zoe, I..." He said her name as if it would be enough to erase the betrayal. "It's not what you think." But the words were empty, meaningless, void of any hope of redemption.
She hadn't had the courage to give him a chance to explain. She didn't want to. What could he have said to justify what he had just done? How could he have explained this scene that she had seen with her own eyes, these gestures, this complicity that left no room for doubt? She felt betrayed in her soul, in her body, as if a part of herself was already dead, as if she no longer existed.
"That's it... That's all you have to say?" Zoe spoke with an icy calm that barely masked the tremor in her voice. She didn't want to scream, she didn't want to give him that privilege. She took a deep breath before continuing. "You want me to believe you, don't you? That this is all just a mistake, a misunderstanding?" She shook her head, tears now streaming down her cheeks. "No. I can't. I..." Her words trailed off in a ragged breath. It was too much for her. Too much. She had left the room, her heart in tatters, like an abandoned wreck. She hadn't taken her things. She hadn't taken her souvenirs. She had simply left the apartment, not knowing where to go, not knowing what to do.
She had wandered the streets, lost, as if the ground had given way beneath her feet. The people who passed by her didn't even look at her. She had found herself at the edge of the canal, her hands shaking, trying to contain her grief. But she couldn't. The pain was too intense, too dull. The sight of Victor, his frozen face, his tasteless apologies, all of it jostled in her mind, like a whirlwind of chaos. She hadn't known how to react. She hadn't known how to accept the unacceptable. She had let herself be overwhelmed by an ocean of anger, sadness and betrayal. She didn't want to go back to her parents, to see them staring at her with pity. She didn't want a look that would have seen her failure.
She realized she had nothing left. Nothing, except this deep need, this rage that boiled inside her. A rage that she didn't quite understand yet, but that gave birth to a dark idea in her mind: she had to get revenge. She had to make him suffer, make him feel at least a fragment of what she felt. She had given it to him. She had loved him with all her heart, but he had betrayed her in a way that nothing could repair. There was no going back, no forgiveness possible.
Zoe knew she was embarking on a path of no return, but a part of her, the wounded part, also knew she had no other choice. And revenge would be her only ally, even if she knew it would change her forever.
Chapter 1 Chapitre 1
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Chapter 2 Chapitre 2
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Chapter 3 Chapitre 3
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Chapter 4 Chapitre 4
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Chapter 5 Chapitre 5
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Chapter 6 Chapitre 6
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Chapter 7 Chapitre 7
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Chapter 8 Chapitre 8
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Chapter 9 Chapitre 9
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Chapter 10 Chapitre 10
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Chapter 11 Chapitre 11
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Chapter 12 Chapitre 12
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Chapter 13 Chapitre 13
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Chapter 14 Chapitre 14
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Chapter 15 Chapitre 15
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Chapter 16 Chapitre 16
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Chapter 17 Chapitre 17
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Chapter 18 Chapitre 18
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Chapter 19 Chapitre 19
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Chapter 20 Chapitre 20
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Chapter 21 Chapitre 21
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Chapter 22 Chapitre 22
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Chapter 23 Chapitre 23
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Chapter 24 Chapitre 24
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Chapter 25 Chapitre 25
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Chapter 26 Chapitre 26
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Chapter 27 Chapitre 27
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Chapter 28 Chapitre 28
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Chapter 29 Chapitre 29
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Chapter 30 Chapitre 30
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Chapter 31 Chapitre 31
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Chapter 32 Chapitre 32
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Chapter 33 Chapitre 33
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Chapter 34 Chapitre 34
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Chapter 35 Chapitre 35
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Chapter 36 Chapitre 36
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Chapter 37 Chapitre 37
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Chapter 38 Chapitre 38
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Chapter 39 Chapitre 39
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Chapter 40 Chapitre 40
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