My Husband Chose His Ex I Became His Regret novel Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Lila

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I can feel the tears flowing down my cheeks. I finally let myself cry. I finally allow myself to break and feel the humiliation, the anger, and the utter hopelessness of being here right now.

For two years, I have lived in silence and let him use you. I have allowed him to tear me down; I allowed him to treat me anyhow. I have let him make me feel like I was not valued, that I did not matter, that he was better than me.

I waa silent while he cheated on me. I remained silent while he moved Sienna into my home. I have been silent while he divorced me and then lied to the media, telling them that I was mentally unstable.

I have been so silent for such a long time.

This silence has left me hiding in a hotel room while he takes everything that I have created and built for many years…and destroys it in an instant.

The buzz of my phone pulls me back into the present. The buzz from my phone continues to buzz on the other side of the room, so I do not look at it or acknowledge it in any way.

I force myself to crawl across the room to my phone; there are 17 texts from Patricia: “Lila, please call me, this is fixable; do not believe anything that they are saying.”

I have five messages from Margot: “Fuck them; fuck all of them; you are amazing, and they all know it.”

Marcus: “The allegations against you are false and defamatory. We are filing a lawsuit; please come back to the office; we need you to be here.”

Lastly, I reviewed the last text message from Aidan: “I know you are reading these messages; I know you are hurt; I am not going to tell you how to proceed from here; I will tell you one thing, Mark Knight is scared of you and what you might do next; the reason he is doing this is because you are powerful; now, come back to where you belong and show him why you should be there.”

I read Aidan’s message at least five times.

Come back to where you belong stood out for me the most.

Lastly, I open my laptop and start looking for articles about Mark Knight and The Knight Group.There is a small piece of news from yesterday that I found buried beneath all the articles about me: “Knight Group Loses Major Manufacturing Contract: Windsor Industries Cites ‘Reliability Concerns.”” I clicked on it and read

“After recently having experienced too much instability at Knight Group, I can no longer partner with them,” said Brian Mooney, CEO of Windsor Industries. “We need partners we can trust.”

This represents the third major contract loss for Knight Group in less than two months and continues to raise questions about the long-term viability of the company.

Mark Knight could not be reached for comment regarding the Windsor contract loss.

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Chapter 54

The deeper I looked, the worse I found it to be.

Knight Group’s stock price has fallen 18%. They are losing clients and cash.

The attacks on Storm Industries have come from a position of desperation, not strength.

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Mark Knight is losing; he is drowning. He is trying to drag me and Storm industries down with him.

This is what Mark Knight wants-to break me, to hide me, and to embarrass me.

He wants me to disappear again.

No way.

I took a shower, a real shower. I washed my hair. I got dressed in “real clothes”-no pajamas or robes, I wore my burgundy dress, my Louboutins, and my Cartier watch.

I did my make-up, concealed my dark circles, lined my eyes, applied red lipstick, and looked like the chic boss I am.

I looked at myself again, and I am better than a few minutes ago-but not perfect.

My phone rings; Patricia.

I pick up the phone: “Hello.”

“Lila! Thank God, are you all right? Where are you?”

“I’m okay, and I want you to help me take down Mark Knight.”

Silence for a second, then: “What do you need?”

“The articles.””I want to tell my side of this story, the entire, real story about everything that’s happened to me over the last three years; all the emotional abuse and infidelity, and the way he showed Sienna off while I was still legally his wife; plus how his family treated me like a servant instead of their daughter-in-law. All of this has just been a lot for me to take, and I want to be able to express myself!”

“That could end up being very risky for you because things might get messy then.”

“I want it to be messy, he started this war, and I want to finish it!”

“You can never go back after revealing everything to somebody.”

“I want to reveal everything, and I’m sure of that! My ex-husband, Mark Knight, has treated me like I don’t matter, like I’m not worthy and now that I’m thriving he wants to ruin me? I’m done hiding and playing the

victim!”

“Okay! I’ve got a journalist in mind who I think will tell your story in an honest way, but you need to know that it won’t be easy. They’ll pull everything you have done for the past few years and question you on it, so you need to make sure you’re ready for that.”

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Chapter 54

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“I am ready now!” I look at my reflection in the mirror, and see a person who no longer has to feel afraid. “Make the arrangements for my interview tomorrow!”

“Tomorrow? That’s really fast.”

“Tomorrow, make the arrangements.” I hang up the phone.”

I text Margot: “I need something to wear. I want to look powerful, I have a TV interview in one day; it’s time to go to battle!”

Her answer comes immediately: “YAY!!! I’ll bring you some things to choose from tonight. You will look like a queen when I’m done with you!!!”

Afterward I text Marcus: “I’m returning to the office tomorrow afternoon.”Get the team ready. We have our sights set on the Knight Group, and we will use everything we’ve got.”

Marcus: finally.

I don’t text Aidan. I don’t even know how to reach out to him after being disengaged for three days.

However, I’ll see Aidan tomorrow. I’ll confront him and face the truth; it’s time for me to stop running.

On my laptop, I comb through every document related to any business relationship Knight has ever had, including developers as partners, and find whatever I can to use against them.

My plan is to systematically dismantle Mark Knight and his company publicly, professionally, and permanently.

If Mark wants to play dirty, that’s fine, I can play dirty too.

I learned from the best, Aidan Storm, and he doesn’t lose.

Neither do I…not anymore.

My phone buzzes with another unknown number. That must be another reporter.

When I pick up, I say, “Hello, This is Lila Stark.”

“Hello, Ms. Stark. I’m Robert Lee with Lee Corporation.” Silence.

“Hello, Mr. Lee.”

“I am concerned about the claims being made against you in the press and very much believe they are false.” My stomach drops.

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