Chapter 7

The final notice came by email: AURA was insolvent. The company she had poured her soul into was gone.

She spent the day making sure her employees were taken care of, arranging severance packages she paid for out of her own pocket. They were loyal, and they didn't deserve this.

Exhausted and hollowed out, she went home.

Kalia was waiting for her in the living room, a triumphant smirk on her face. In her hands was a stack of Charlotte's original design sketches-the physical copies from her home studio.

With deliberate, theatrical slowness, Kalia began to rip them in half, letting the pieces flutter to the floor like confetti.

"See?" Kalia said, her voice laced with venom. "I told you. I always win."

She threw the last handful of shredded paper directly at Charlotte's face. A sharp edge of the thick paper cut Charlotte's cheek, and a drop of blood welled up.

Something inside Charlotte snapped. The years of humiliation, the beatings, the betrayals-it all culminated in a single, explosive moment.

She slapped Kalia across the face, hard.

Kalia stumbled back, a look of shock on her face. Then, her expression twisted into one of malicious glee. She turned and ran out of the room, screaming. "Bryant! Help me! She hit me!"

Charlotte didn't move. She stood among the ruins of her work, waiting.

Bryant stormed in, Kalia sobbing at his side. He saw the red mark on Kalia' s cheek and the cut on Charlotte's. He didn't need to ask what happened. He had already chosen his side.

"You just can't stop, can you?" he snarled. "You've lost everything, and you're still this arrogant, violent bitch."

He gestured to his bodyguards, who had followed him in. "Hold her."

They pinned her arms behind her back.

"Now, Kalia," Bryant said, his voice dangerously soft. "You can hit her back."

Charlotte stared at him, her eyes wide with disbelief. "Bryant, you wouldn't dare."

He let out a short, ugly laugh. "Try me." He nodded at Kalia. "Go on."

Kalia, after a moment of feigned hesitation, stepped forward and slapped Charlotte. Then again. And again. Each blow was a fresh wave of humiliation. Charlotte' s face stung, and the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.

When Kalia was finished, Bryant rushed to her side, examining her hand. "Does it hurt? Let me see. We should get some ice for that."

He didn't even look at Charlotte, her face now swollen and bleeding. He just led Kalia away, murmuring comforting words.

Charlotte watched them go, and a laugh bubbled up from deep inside her, a wild, heartbroken sound.

It's okay, she told herself, the words a frantic mantra. Cancel the engagement. It will all be over soon.

She would not just end it. She would become his enemy. His rival. Until the day they died.

The next day, she moved out of the penthouse they had shared. She packed the few remaining personal items she had and left without a word.

She moved into a small villa on the outskirts of the city, a property Jaden had once stayed in when he was first starting out.

The place had a leaky roof. She called the property management to get it fixed.

At the management office, she overheard a conversation that made her freeze.

"Mrs. Barnes is so lucky," the agent was saying to the manager. "Her husband is so generous."

"He is," the manager agreed. "He's overseeing the entire renovation himself. He said he wants everything to be perfect for her."

Charlotte stood silently, listening, as they gushed about how Bryant Barnes was personally designing a new home for his beloved wife-to-be, Kalia. Every detail, every choice, handled with loving care.

For Kalia, he would build a palace. For Charlotte, he couldn't even be bothered to fix a leaky roof.

The last remnants of her foolish, stubborn heart turned to dust. It was time to stop hurting. It was time to start fighting back.

As she turned to leave, Kalia blocked her path, a smug, victorious smile on her face.

"Going somewhere?" Kalia asked, her voice dripping with contempt. "Running away now that you've lost everything?"