He Held The Sun, Then Lost It

Five years. Four hundred million dollars. And the wedding dress was never mine.

I found out on a Tuesday-a C-list actress draped in my custom Vera Wang, hanging off my fiancé's arm. Six months of French lace. Six meters of Italian silk. Every stitch a promise I had made to myself: someone finally chose me for me.

He locked the doors of that boutique. Froze my cards. Threatened my friends. Told the world I was just a delusional former assistant who didn't know her place.

The internet called me crazy, a liar, a desperate woman who couldn't take a hint. His name trended everywhere. My accounts got suspended before I could say a word.

What he never knew: his empire ran on my capital. His patents were mine. His executive assistant had been feeding me evidence for months-emails, recordings, a paper trail of fraud stretching back years.

I dialed the encrypted phone. A voice said, "I've waited five years."

"Then wait three more days," I said. "I'm going to tear his head off."

Chapter 1

Claudia Sims POV

Five years. Four hundred million dollars. And the wedding dress wasn't mine.

I discovered it on a Tuesday-Bianca Burks, a C-list actress with a talent for attaching herself to powerful men, wearing my custom Vera Wang on the arm of my fiancé. Six months of hand-embroidered lace from Calais. Six meters of ivory silk from Lake Como. Every stitch a promise I had made to myself: someone finally chose me for me.

I could have walked away that day. Instead, I stood in that boutique and let him lock the doors. I let him freeze my cards, threaten my friends, and tell the world I was nothing but a delusional former assistant who had gotten above herself.

I let him believe he had won.

He never knew I was the founder of a nine-billion-dollar empire. He never knew his company had been built on my capital, my patents, my silent sacrifice. He never knew his executive assistant had been feeding me evidence for months-emails, recordings, a trail of fraud stretching back years.

He thought he was the king of his own little kingdom.

He was wrong.

When the moment finally came, I didn't just leave him. I dismantled him piece by piece-starting with his media empire, and ending with a courtroom where his own words, recorded in secret, condemned him to twelve years in federal prison.

Some people say revenge is a dish best served cold. I waited five years to serve mine.

And it was delicious.