My Husband Chose His Ex I Became His Regret novel Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Lila

The roach has returned.

$5 wour hap

I see the roach tapping its way across the ceiling, and follow the route it had taken about an hour ago

This is what freedom costs…$49 a night for a room with its door not secured properly.

I pull the thin comforter up around my shoulders tight even though it smells like past cigarettes and past regrets. My phone rests next to my bed, but the screen is dark. I haven’t checked it since I was at The Peninsula, and signed Aidan Storm’s contract and sold myself to a different devil.

At least this devil has said he would give me something in return.

85

I jump at the knock on the door – quick and professional. Very much different than the drunk who had been stumbling around in the hallway at 2 am earlier in the morning.

“Ms. Stark?” a male voice said professionally. “Hello, my name is Marcus West, Mr. Storm’s assistant. May I speak with you, please?”

I glanced up at the clock beside my bed, 6:47 am. Of course, powerful people never sleep!

I opened the door just a tiny crack, keeping the chain locked and looked at a man probably in his 30’s who had an expensive suit on, and a tablet in one hand, with a politely neutral face looking up and down my wrinkled clothing.

“I’m sorry to bother you at such an early hour,” he said, but sounded like he was not sorry. “However. Mr Storm requested that we move you to another hotel.”

“I can’t afford another hotel.”

“We have a presidential suite for you. You are expected to be checked out of here by 7:30 AM today; therefore, you have thirty minutes to pack your belongings. A pest control team will be fumigating the suite. hence your early departure.”

I think that he’s lying, but at that moment, a cockroach falls from the ceiling onto my shoulder!

I scream, brush it off, and watch it run under the bed. Marcus still hasn’t changed his expression. “Twenty- nine minutes now, Miss Stark.”

I stare in awe at the new room I was given.

I’m standing at the doorway with my bag, looking at marble floors and floor-to-ceiling windows that face the city skyline-oh yes, and there’s even a grand piano in the corner. Did I mention the crystal chandeliers and furniture that appear to be from a museum?

I’m shaking my head because I cannot believe this is happening. “This is a mistake,” I say softly.

15:18 Tue, May 12

Chapter 14

Marcus just shakes his head, puts down the leather portfolio onto the twelve person capacity dining room table, and says, “This is no mistake My Storm made appointments for you this afternoon

“Appointments?” I question.

Marcus flips the leather portfolio open to show me the schedule of appointments, here’s what it says

1:00 PM. Simone Theroux image consultant

3:00 PM: Dr. Patricia Maple – personal development coach

85

Tomorrow morning a hair and makeup team will come to your hotel room, then a wardrobe consultant will arrive after the hair and makeup team.

“Hold on. I didn’t agree to this,” I say, my head spinning.

“You agreed to be Chief Strategy Officer for Storm Industries, therefore part of the onboarding process.”

“Your new phone. Mr. Storm’s private number is already saved. All appointments are in the calendar. Your building access card and corporate credit card will arrive this afternoon.”

“Corporate credit card?”

“For business expenses. Wardrobe, meals, transportation.” He adjusts his glasses. “Mr. Storm expects you to look the part, Ms. Stark. That requires investment.”

He leaves before I can argue

I walk to the windows, press my forehead against the cool glass. The city sprawls below, indifferent to my existence. Somewhere down there, Mark is probably waking up next to Sienna in our bed. My bed. The bed I picked out, the sheets I washed, the room I cleaned while he…

My phone buzzes. The old one, still in my pocket.

News Alert: Mark Knight and Sienna Whitmore Announce Engagement

My stomach drops.

No. No, it’s only been, we’ve only been divorced recently..

I open the article with shaking hands.

There’s a photo. Professional. Glamorous. Mark in a tuxedo, Sienna in a champagne-coloured dress that probably costs more than a car. They’re holding champagne glasses, smiling like they’ve won the lottery. Like they’re the perfect couple. Like I never existed.

The headline: Tech Heir Mark Knight Finds Love After ‘Difficult’ Marriage Ends

I read. Each word is a knife.

“I’m just grateful to finally be with someone who understands me,” Knight, 31, told reporters at the Belmont

15:18 Tue, May 12

Chapter IT

85

5 your hans

Charity Gala. “My previous marriage was… complicated. She had a lot of issues. I tried to help with, but ultimately, you can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved.”

Issues. He said I had issues.

I scroll down. There’s more. There’s always more.

Sources close to the former couple describe the marriage as “tumultuous,” with one anonymous friend stating that Lila Stark-Knight was “increasingly unstable and controlling” in the final year.

“She would lash out over nothing,” the source claims. “Mark tried everything, therapy, patience, but she refused help. The divorce was his only option.”

Unstable. Controlling. Refused help.

I read it again. And again. The words blur.

For years, I learned how to cook for and care for all of his needs; I worked very hard to be as quiet and as small and as easy for him to live with as I could; I smiled and spoke with him and his co-workers and apologised even when I wasn’t at fault because I wanted to please him and my family.

But this is what I receive. I am portrayed as the villain. He is the patient victim of an insane ex-wife. I did all that I could as a wife to be there for him, and he found Sienna who has become a saviour for Mark in his healing journey.

My hands are shaking because I’m trying to hold my phone steady enough to read the next article. There’s another article and another article and another article and another that feature the same story of Mark being a victim and Lila being the unstable ex-wife and Sienna being the man who saved him.

After all the lies that I’m reading about my life, I should be crying and feel broken. I should be on the expensive floors of this beautiful venue crying.

But I’m not crying. I’m not sad. I am… nothing. My heart has become a wide, empty echo.

No, I take that back.

I feel rage.

Rage for every dinner I cooked that he criticised. Every outfit I wore that wasn’t good enough. Every time he looked through me like I was furniture. Every family gathering where my father smiled at Mark like he was the son he always wanted while treating me like the help.

Rage for Natalie’s Instagram posts from Paris while I worked double shifts. For James’s new Tesla while I took the bus. For my stepmother’s diamond bracelet-“Riley is so generous! while I wore the same three outfits on

rotation.

Rage for every single person who ever made me feel like I should be grateful for scraps.

I walk into the marble and gold fixture-encrusted bathroom and look in the mirror.

The person looking back at me is a stranger. Dry hair. Pale skin. Eyes that have lost their sparkle. Smudged

Chapter 14

drugstore mascara under my eyes A cardigan with a hole in the sleeve

This is what I have become, tiny, apologetic, ummemorable.

Dysfunctional Controlling. The crazy ex wife.

Llean closer to the mirror, gripping the marble counter top.

“Never agam,” I say to my reflection.

My voice quiet and steady. Cold and harsh. A warning and a vow.

5 would wo

If they want to create a narrative about me, fine, I’ll give them a narrative. I will become someone who is so strong and so powerful and so undeniable that they will choke on the lies they have told about me.

Mark wants to rewrite my history? I will rewrite the future for him. Everything he has, I will take and burn while he watches it as ash.

My father wants to pretend I don’t exist? I’ll make it impossible for him to ignore me. I’ll stand so tall he’ll have to crane his neck just to see my shadow.

And Sienna? Sweet, innocent Sienna who just wants to help Mark heal?

I smile at the reflection I am presented. I do not have a nice smile on my face.

She does not realize what is about to happen to her.

I pick up the new phone Marcus left. Open the calendar. Simone Theroux, 1 PM. Dr. Patricia Maple, 3 PM. Hair and makeup, tomorrow at 8 AM. Wardrobe consultation. Etiquette training. Business strategy sessions.

Aidan Storm isn’t offering me a job. He’s offering me a weapon. A complete reconstruction. A chance to become someone who can destroy the people who destroyed me.

And I am going to take that opportunity. Every opportunity.

I will learn everything and become everything. When I walk into rooms, I will have them remember my name. When I walk in beside Aidan Storm, I will exert so much power, Mark Knight will choke on all of his regrets.

I pull out my old phone one last time. Look at the engagement photo. Mark’s smug smile. Sienna’s triumphant expression.

Then I block every number. Delete every app. Factory reset.

The phone asks: Are you sure you want to erase all content and settings?

Yes. God, yes.

I watch the screen go black. Two years of messages and photos and memories gone.

Good.

15:19 Tue, May 12

Chapter 14

I don’t need the past I need the future

And the future”

The future is going to be spectacular.

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