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Phoenix Rising: The Scarred Heiress's Revenge

Xiao Hong Mao

I lived as the "scarred ghost" of the Stephens penthouse, a wife kept in the shadows because my facial burns offended my billionaire husband's aesthetic. For years, I endured Kason's coldness and my family's abuse, a submissive puppet who believed she had nowhere else to go. The end came with a blue folder tossed onto my silk sheets. Kason's mistress was back, and he wanted me out by sunset, offering a five-million-dollar "silence fee" to go hide my face in the countryside. The betrayal cut deep when I discovered my father had already traded my divorce for a corporate bailout. My step-sister mocked my "trashy" appearance at a high-end boutique, while the sales staff treated me like a common thief. At home, my father threatened to cut off my mother's life-saving medicine unless I crawled back to Kason to beg for a better deal. I was the girl who took the blame for a fire she didn't start, the wife who worshipped a man who never looked her in the eye, and the daughter used as a human bargaining chip. I was supposed to be broken, penniless, and desperate. But the woman who stood up wasn't the weak Elease Finch anymore; she was Phoenix, a tactical predator with a $500 million secret. I signed the divorce papers without a single tear, walked past my stunned husband, and wiped the Finch family's bank accounts clean with a few taps on my phone. "Your money is dirty," I told Kason with a cold smile. "I prefer clean hands." The cage is open, the hunt has begun, and I'm starting with the people who thought a scar made me weak.

Modern Revenge

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Katherine looks at the letter in her hand, her personal copy of the settlement. Her heart aches on nights like these, laying alone in bed is something she had grown used to these past five years but the pain was still there.

She hates cold nights, the thought of waking up in the morning to nothing but an empty home and bed unnerved her.

She sighs deeply, she used to dream about him, coming back for her but it never happened sometimes she still does. Now it's started to dawn on her that he never would. After all she has nothing a billionaire could ever want. There are plenty of other women who would be more than happy to fill her shoes. That was always the problem though.

She sets the papers down on the bedside locker thinking about how the cheap bugger photocopied them in black and white rather than in colour. It makes her roll her eyes a little, the tight arse, its not like the coloured ink used would cost a lot to replace and even if it did, to him he wouldn't have seen a difference in bank balance, the amount he rakes in every hour.

She tosses in bed trying to shake the thoughts of her old life. Her marriage. Her ex husband, the billionaire and the image of him cheating on her with her best friend.

Such a typical cliché. Man with too much money has a wife, he isn't happy so he finds someone better, gets caught and he is divorced and free to mingle with whomever he pleases. wife is devastated and somehow manages to build her life up but still feels something is missing.

No, she stops herself. This happens all too often, one minute she's happy living life and then he comes along and infiltrates her life, well mentally that is.

She thought she had moved on she even had a date last night, he was tall, lean, had blonde hair with those bright baby blue eyes that pierce into your soul. He was funny and made her laugh. His name was Dylan he works in the office with her too it was where they met, she could tell the way he looked at her he was interested but was she? She didn't know.

The clock on her bedside locker read 3.45 am and as usual she had spent hours thinking about a man no longer in her life. She told herself off for being so silly he won't ever come back he didn't need some average woman he could have anyone. He definitely didn't stay up for hours at night thinking about her. She rolled on her back closing her eyes to get 40 winks before work in the morning.

Katherine woke up to find the light streaming through the window the next morning. Her blinds left unpulled and yesterdays clothes still on. She looks in the mirror on her bedside locker and shakes her head God she is a mess.

Getting up of the bed she stretches her aching muscles and trudges slowly to her bathroom.

The hot water of the shower pours over her body and she lets herself be enveloped in the warmth, her muscles relaxing as the water massages her aches and pains. After her shower she steps into her usual outfit for work a blouse and fitted skirt alongside a pair of heels. She puts her usual light makeup on and her naturally curly hair is put up in a high ponytail.

The thought of going to work today makes her queasy. She hasn't seen Dylan since their romantic date. And somehow telling him she isn't interested in further contact doesn't seem that appealing.

She walks out of her apartment locking the door behind her and takes the elevator down to the car park.

The drive to Hudson's law firm is a short one about fifteen minutes but today it seems to drag and she can't help but feel something strange is going to happen.

Finding a space in the office car park has always been a nightmare and although she is early as usual its still a struggle. After spending fifteen minutes waiting for someone to leave she finally finds a space and sighs in relief looking at her watch. Still early.

The office is buzzing and smells like morning coffee. Every desk Katherine walks past holds a coffee cup from the ba0rista across the road. But she always found coffee too bitter she prefers something a little sweeter like a smoothie or orange juice.

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