I gave birth to my husband’s mistress’s child without knowing, and now they want to get rid of me to take my money—but they didn’t know a powerful man loved me and would help me destroy them.
I told Maurice everything.
Every word felt foreign, as if it weren’t my story… as if I were recounting a tragedy overheard from another woman, in another place.
But no.
This was mine. My hell. My truth.
My voice trembled, and more than once, I thought I couldn’t go on.
But I had to. I had to free myself.
“The baby… the baby I had,” I whispered, barely audible. “He wasn’t mine.”
I looked up and saw Maurice frown in confusion.
“What do you mean?”
“Someone switched my embryo,” I choked out between tears. “They replaced it with another—one carrying my husband’s genes… and his mistress’s.”
Maurice stared at me, wide-eyed, as if struck by lightning.
“What…?”
“Yes,” I said. “They wanted me to carry it. To give birth to it. To register it as mine…”
And then… kill me.
That way, the baby would inherit everything. My estate. The insurance. All of it.
I pulled a USB from my bag.
“I have proof. There’s a video…”
I handed it to him. He inserted it into his laptop without a word, his hands tense.
The screen lit his face.
And then he saw them.
Him… and her.
His mistress. My executioner.
They were naked, laughing. Between disgusting caresses and hollow kisses.
And then, as if that weren’t enough, they spoke about me.
“That fool will give birth soon,” the mistress sneered. “Tell me—when are we getting rid of her?”
“Wait until she registers the baby,” my husband replied coldly. “Once she does… I’ll arrange an accident. Cut the brakes. Make it look like fate.”
“Brakes? Darling, this isn’t a film. We need something more… final.”
“I spent a fortune on your friend Mary’s help at the clinic. Swapping embryos wasn’t simple… or cheap. I had to fake massive losses to cover the money trail. This can’t fail, Isabella. It can’t.”
The video stopped.
Maurice stood.
The powerful man everyone feared.
The lion who roared in boardrooms.
The shark who crushed competitors without hesitation—now trembled with rage.
His eyes were bloodshot. His breath came hard, as if fury were choking him.
“They’re dead!” he shouted. “I’ll destroy them! With my bare hands if I must!”
“No!” I stopped him, standing. “Not yet.”
He looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. And maybe I had.
“First… I want them to suffer. To burn in their own misery, like I did in silence. I want them to fear their own reflections—to see the hell they created staring back. I want… revenge.”
Maurice stepped closer. His gaze burned into me, unreadable.
Then he nodded.
“Fine. If that’s what you want, I’ll help.”
I stared, stunned. “What…?”
“I’ll help,” he repeated. “If you want them to pay… I’ll make sure they pay. Dearly.”
We’ll take everything. Their peace, their power, their security. All of it.
My chest ached from the storm inside. I looked at him, glassy-eyed, still disbelieving.
“Why…? Why help me, Maurice?”
He looked down for a second. Then his eyes met mine, filled with something I couldn’t name—but wanted to.
“Why do you think you came to me, Victoria? Why me, of all people?”
I had no answer. I lowered my gaze, then whispered the truth:
“I don’t know… I just… I felt safe here. Nowhere else. Only here.”
Maurice moved closer. His strong hands gripped my shoulders.
I felt his warmth.
And for a moment, the fear vanished.
“This will always be your refuge, Victoria. No one will touch you here. No one will hurt you again. You have me.”
I shivered.
“But… you shouldn’t get involved. It’s dangerous.”
Then he shouted, with a force that shook me to my core:
“I’m involved because I care! Because… I’ve always loved you, Victoria! Always!”
My world stopped.
I’d expected rejection. Advice. Scorn.
But not this. Never “I love you.”
Not when my life was chaos.
Not when I felt like the ashes of a broken woman.
And yet… there he was. Loving me in the wreckage.
