The Empress Who Buries Her Past

"Billie Thomas wants to be your friend." My thumb hovered over the screen, tor

of lavish parties, designer clothes, exotic vacations. Then I saw it. A picture of Alec and Billie, arm in arm, laughing, their f

for an urgent business meeting that day, a critical negotiation he couldn't miss. He'd even sent me a perfunctory

shared future, to the empire we were supposedly building together. I remembered the year before, when we'd celebrated my birthday with cheap

I felt a wave of nausea wash over me. I couldn't look anymore. I close

er. I burst through the doors, heading straight for the nurses' station on his floor. The head nurse, a

en you here in ages.

ndition," I said, my voice tight. "He was su

? The hospital changed ownership last month. We're under

informed." Alec was responsible for everything, our

ed again, ignoring the unsettling

stable. The new doctors decided against the immediate surgery. They put him on a new,

spreading through me. "What kind of side effects? A

ning, right after your father was admitted. She said Alec was too busy to come himself, bu

who had meticulously planned my public humiliati

y voice barely a whisper. "Why was

istent. She said you were... indisposed. And quite frankly, dear, she was rather unpleasant. Demandi

connected in a web of deceit and malice. My father, who had lived

o my clothes, a constant reminder of the sterile betrayal. My mind raced, piecing together the fragments. Billie chang

longer recognized. I walked aimlessly, the city a blur around me, until I found myself standing in fro

e on a fire escape. I remembered the endless nights we'd spent there, the cheap takeout, the dreams we'd whispered to each other in the dark.

But as my hand touched the cold metal, I heard it. A low, throaty moan, followed by a w

husky and satisfied. He murmured something I couldn't quite make out, but the tone was clear enoug

y husband's betrayal, playing out in the very place where our love had once blossomed. A small, almost

Billie's voice, sharp with suspicion, sliced through the su

ollowed. "It's probably just the neig

thought I still possessed, crumbled into dust. I wanted to scream, to rage, to break down the door and confr

e. I was a woman, stripped bare by betrayal, but not broken. No

eard a gasp from inside, then Alec'

, the sounds of my own ragged breathing echoing in my ears. The tears came then, hot

e, bewildered. "Is it raining?"

It was just me. My wo

y, a stark contrast to my own brightly lit studio. I sat across from him, my fac

ties, his neglect, the cold indifference that had hollowed out our marriage. But when he asked about the depth of

ered, my voice breaking. "I don't want any

his eyes. "Are you sure, Ms. Frazier?

ands. The thought of fighting for a share of their spoils re

tition, I walked back into the gleaming skyscraper that