Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Julian Vance arrived when the room had already descended into chaos.
He entered through a side door in a charcoal suit, hair impeccably styled, irritation still etched on his face from being pulled out of some
“important” meeting. Then his eyes landed on the screen-his own face frozen beside Mara’s in that dimly lit hallway
The irritation vanished instantly, replaced by raw panic.
Ivy didn’t give him a second to recover. She walked toward him with slow, deliberate steps, heels clicking like a final countdown When she reached him, she slipped off her wedding ring-a simple platinum band-and dropped it into his half-empty champagne glass
The soft clink echoed through the stunned silence.
“Julian,” she said, her voice a blade through the noise, “my attorneys filed this morning.”
His expression cycled rapidly: shock, panic, then cold calculation. He glanced around at the reporters, the cameras, the hungry eyes of Chicago’s
elite. In that split second, he chose self-preservation.
“She pursued me!” he snapped, pointing at Mara. “She came after me for access, money, connections. I never-”
His voice rose for the audience. “Vivian, you know me. I would never risk our marriage for someone like her.”
A sharp, bitter laugh escaped my throat before I could stop it. Someone like her. As if seventeen deliberate visits were a kidnapping.
Mara pushed herself up from the floor, shaking with fury. Her face was blotchy, mascara streaked, but her eyes burned-wild, cornered, and
dangerous.
“Someone like me?” she spat, voice cracking into something ugly and real. “That’s not what you said when you booked the penthouse. That’s not what you said when you told me Ivy was cold and controlling and only useful for her family money!”
The room inhaled sharply. Reporters surged closer.
Mara kept going, voice rising. “You said you loved me. You said you’d leave her. You promised me shares in the Cross fund. You promised me
everything.”
Ivy tilted her head, almost bored. “That part is new. Thank you, Mara.”
Julian went deathly pale. His lawyer was already typing furiously on his phone.
Mara realized too late what she had admitted. Horror washed over her face.
She turned desperately toward Caleb.
“Caleb…” she whispered. “Help me.”
He stood at the edge of the crowd, champagne glass still in hand. His face was unreadable, but his eyes-those eyes I had once loved-were
hollow and shattered.
“Did you ever think I was anything but useful?” he asked quietly.
Mara froze.
Caleb let out a small, bitter laugh that cut deeper than any shout. “I came back for you. I chose you again. In two lifetimes, I chose you.” His voice trembled with pain and rage. “And you were still lying. Still using me. Still making me a fool while you climbed into another man’s bed”
They Chose Her,l Built an Empi…
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Chapter 9
He stepped back. Then again. “I gave up everything for you. Twice. And you never once chose me.”
Caleb turned and walked away, shoulders rigid, hands shaking at his sides. The heir to Thorne Media, fleeing the wreckage
Mara’s bracelet glittered like a dying star as she trembled.
“Declan…” she begged next, voice breaking.
Declan stood rigid, hands deep in his pockets. His eyes held something I had never seen before-cold, painful clarity.
“You used all of us,” he said flatly. “That’s the problem, Mara. You always know exactly what to do. Who to cry to Who to throw away.”
She reached for him. He stepped back.
For one brief second, Declan’s gaze met mine over her shoulder. Deep, aching regret flickered there. I turned away before he could speak. Hi
regret meant nothing to me anymore.
He followed Caleb out without another word.
The two men who had once fought over her left one after the other. Neither looked back.
Mara spun toward our parents, panic raw in her voice. “Mom! Say something! Tell them this isn’t true!”
Mother stood white-faced, gripping Father’s arm. For the first time, she didn’t rush to defend her favorite daughter. She simply stood there, frozen.
Mara took a shaky step forward. “Mom?”
Mother stepped back.
The small movement was deafening.
Father’s face twisted with humiliation. “This is your mess,” he said coldly. “Handle it yourself.”
They left her there-alone in the middle of the ballroom, surrounded by broken glass, flashing cameras, and the ruins of every lie that had ever
shielded her.
A strange mix of emotions crashed through me: fierce triumph, old grief, and a hollow ache for the sister I had once tried so hard to protect My ribs throbbed in time with my heartbeat, my wrist burned under the brace, but beneath the pain burned something brighter-liberation.
Ivy slipped her hand gently around my uninjured wrist and gave the faintest smile.
“Come on,” she said. “Let’s leave the vultures something to eat.”
I glanced once more at Mara. She was still calling after shadows, voice cracking, hands reaching for people who no longer cared.
Then I walked out with Ivy Cross.
My body ached. My heart pounded wildly in my throat.
But for the first time in two lifetimes, I wasn’t running. I wasn’t hiding. I wasn’t waiting to be chosen.
I was walking forward-into a future that was finally, completely mine.
They Chose Her,l Built an Empi…
