Free From His Shadow

ea of designer gowns and tailored suits, a ghost at the most important charity gala of the year. My husband, Mark, was

public events, was now the cent

a secret apartment, the photos on his hidden cloud drive. I tried to ignore i

Chloe Sterling, from a family whose name was etched into the city's foundations. He was Mark Va

, her hand clutching a small, pearl handbag he had bough

said. His vo

I said, keeping m

jacket pocket and pulled out a thick envelope. He han

Pre-prepared. He had been p

dded, his voice low but clear e

and sickening. I turned to leave

a cruel twist to his lips. "Consider our par

ws. Mark systematically dismantled my family's business, a legacy built over

plicated my father in fraud. The headlines were brutal. My parents were ruined, their names dragged thro

ing my lungs, watching the news report on Mark and Lily's engagement. That was when I

lash of light. A g

enched master bedroom of the house I shared with Mark. The silk s

en was October 12th. The day I first found the photo

as

father in that hospital bed, was burned into

s a fragile, foreign feeling, but it was there. I had

surv

stable, their reputation intact. They knew nothing of the storm that was comin

ight for a marriage that was already dead. I would quietly divorce him, take what

our old life. I needed someone new, someone who was loyal only to me. I remembered a name from a business article,

voice low and urgent. "And I need it to be qu

was all business. "I'll draw up

ecifies. Nothing more, nothing less. And I want

ht it," He

tainty that surprised even my

ackground. As long as I didn't cause a scene, he would gladly sign

eeded to do. I needed to see her. I needed to understand the woman for whom Mark had destroyed my world. I n

nd chose a simple, elegant dress. Today,

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