I Swapped His Fake Gift for a Real Life novel Chapter 34

Chapter 16: Gambler’s Daughter

Champagne tower prisms danced across the gala, but the delicate violin strains couldn’t mask the razor–edged tension in

their corner.

Scarlett snapped, her voice dripping with sarcasm as champagne sloshed in her glass, “Your precious Little Miss Innocent

has nearly emptied the company coffers, and you’ve got nothing better to do than crash a gala?”

Zane’s knuckles whitened around his glass. “Watch your tone, Ms. Bennett.”

“Or what?” Scarlett stepped fully in front of Nova, shielding her. “Three months. Enough stolen to buy a private island

Her island.”

Whispers crescendoed. Eyes darted toward them.

Nova tugged Scarlett’s sleeve. “Let’s go-”

“Why spare his pride?” Scarlett’s voice cut through the murmurs. “He torched his empire for a con artist! And now he

dares harass you?”

Zane seized Nova’s wrist. “We talk. Now.”

“Unhand her!” Scarlett slapped his grip away. “The divorce decree’s ink is dry, Blackthorn. What’s this pathetic charade?”

Phones lifted, recording.

Nova exhaled sharply. “Follow me,”

In the moonlit rose garden, fountain mist cooled the air but not the fury.

“Nova, Zane’s voice was raw sandpaper. He reached for her. “It wasn’t-‘

‘Irrelevant.‘ Nova evaded his touch, stepping back. “We are done. No more contact. Ever

“Enough theatrics!” Zane advanced, frustration cracking his control. I never wanted divorce! Ivy was vulnerable–needed. support! Must you be this jealous? I-”

The slap echoed. A nightingale burst from the hedges.

Scarlett shook her stinging palm. “Support? You call bankrolling her theft support? Letting her squat in your marital home? Flaunting jewels she siphoned from your company?”

Her laugh was ice. “Countless are vulnerable, Blackthorn. Why lavish ruin only on her?”

Zane turned his stinging cheek, tongue probing the coppery tang. Rage darkened his eyes. “You know nothing. Ivy is-

“Is what?” Scarlett slashed the air. “Orphaned? Helpless?”

Chapter 16: Gambler’s Daughter

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She yanked her phone out, stabbing the screen. “See what your ‘precious innocent‘ really does!”

Images flashed under moonlight.

Ivy draped over a silver–haired tycoon on a yacht’s deck.

Ivy pushing stacks of chips toward a blond croupier in Monte Carlo.

The killing blow–Ivy, arm–in–armwith Blackthorn Group’s fiercest rival, entering the Ritz–timestamped three days ago.

“No…” Zane staggered back as if gut–punched. “Impossible-”

“Know why she really fled back?” Scarlett closed in, relentless. “Her ‘hopeless gambling–addict father‘? A lie! She owed millions to Macau loan sharks! Ran when they came for her kneecaps!”

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