Rise of the Formidable Ex-wife (Lucia and Alex) novel Chapter 144

Chapter 144

Chapter 144

The front door slammed shut, and the sound echoed through the house like a gunshot. Marco stood frozen in the entryway, staring at the closed door where Lucia had just disappeared. His hands trembled at his sides, and sweat beaded on his forehead despite the cool air.

Margaret watched him from the living room doorway, her cigarette burning down to ash between her fingers. Her face was a mask of fury, but underneath, something else flickered in her eyes. Fear.

“Well.” The word came out sharp as broken glass. “That was quite a performance.”

Marco didn’t respond. He kept staring at the door, as if Lucia might walk back through it and take back everything she had just said.

“Marco.” Margaret’s voice cut through his thoughts. “Look at me.”

He turned slowly, his face pale and drawn. “She’s going to take them. She’s going to take my

children.”

“Your children?” Margaret’s laugh held no humor. “Your children who you’ve been hitting? Your children who hate living here? Those children?”

“I didn’t hit them. Not really. It was just…”

“Just what? Just a little violence? Just a small loss of control?” Margaret’s voice rose with each word. “God, Marco, do you even hear yourself?”

Marco ran his hands through his hair, making it stand up in messy spikes. “You don’t understand. They were being disrespectful. They were saying things…”

“They were telling the truth!” Margaret’s scream filled the hallway. “They were telling you exactly what kind of man you are, and you couldn’t handle it!”

The accusation hung between them like a live wire. Marco’s face flushed red, and his hands clenched into fists. “Don’t you dare lecture me about being a good father. You’ve been poisoning them against their mother from day one.*

“I was protecting this family!” Margaret shot back. “I was trying to make them see that Lucia was the problem, not us!”

“By ripping Monica’s photos off the walls? By calling Lucas a traitor? By telling Ria she was just like her mother?” Marco’s voice was getting louder now. “That’s your idea of protection?”

Margaret’s mouth opened and closed. She hadn’t expected him to throw her own cruelty back at her.

“I… I was trying to help them adjust…”

“You were trying to erase their mother from their lives so you could play wife with my money!”

The words hit Margaret like physical blows. She stepped back, her face going white with rage.

“How dare you! After everything I’ve done for you! After everything I’ve sacrificed!”

“Sacrificed?” Marco’s laugh was bitter. “What exactly have you sacrificed Margaret? Your cheap apartment? Your low budget model job? Your maxed-out credit cards?”

Margaret’s face twisted with hurt and fury. “I sacrificed my freedom! My time! I could have had anyone, but I chose you!” “You chose my bank account!”

“That’s not true!”

“Isn’t it?” Marco stepped closer, his eyes blazing. “Then why are you always shopping? Why do you spend money faster than I can make it? Why are you already making friends with other wealthy men at every event we attend?”

Margaret’s face went from white to red to white again. “You’ve been watching me?”

“I don’t need to watch you. Everyone can see what you are, Margaret. Everyone except me, apparently.” “What I am?” Margaret’s voice was deadly quiet now. “What am I, Marco? Tell me.”

Marco looked at her. Really looked at her. The expensive dress that he had paid for. The designer handbag that had cost more than most people made in a month. The perfect hair and makeup that required hundreds of dollars in weekly maintenance. The cold calculation behind her beautiful eyes.

“You’re a user.” The words came out quiet but cutting “You’re a parasite who feeds off other people’s success and calls it

Successfully unlocked! love.”

Margaret slapped him.

The sound cracked through the air like a whip. Marco’s head snapped to the side, and a red handprint bloomed across his

Chapter 144

cheek.

For a moment, they both stood frozen, shocked by the violence that had erupted between them.

Then Margaret laughed. A high, hysterical sound that made Marco’s skin crawl.

“A parasite?” The word dripped with venor. “A parasite? You want to know what a parasite looks like, Marco? Look in the

mirror.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re the one who sucked the life out of Lucia for seventeen years! You’re the one who took her youth, her dreams, her love, and gave her nothing back but betrayal!”

“That’s not…”

“You came home every night and told her about your day while she made your dinner and raised your children and supported your career. She gave you everything, and you threw her away like garbage the moment someone younger came along!”

Marco’s face crumpled. “I made a mistake….”

“You made a choice!” Margaret’s scream echoed off the walls. “You looked at seventeen years of marriage, three children, and a woman who loved you, and you decided it wasn’t enough! You decided you deserved better!”

“Stop it.”

“And now what? Now you want her back? Now you think you can just snap your fingers and she’ll come running?” Margaret was pacing now, her heels clicking against the hardwood floor. “You stood there and begged her to come back! In front of me! Your girlfriend!”

“Margaret…”

“You told another woman you wanted her back while I was standing right there!”

Marco sank down onto the stairs, his head in his hands. “I need her. I never stopped needing her.”

The admission hit Margaret like a physical blow. She stopped pacing and stared at him, her mouth hanging open. “What did you just say?”

“I need Lucia. I always have. I always will,”

“Then why did you choose me?” Margaret’s voice was barely a whisper now.

Marco looked up at her, and she saw the truth in his eyes before he even spoke.

“Because I was angry. Because I was scared of getting old. Because you made me feel young and powerful and in control.* He paused, then delivered the killing blow. “Because you were available.”

Margaret felt something break inside her chest. Not her heart. She wasn’t sure she had ever really loved Marco enough for that. But her pride, her sense of self-worth, her carefully constructed fantasy of being the woman who had won.

“Available.” She repeated the word like it tasted foul.

“Margaret, I didn’t mean….”

“No, you meant it.” She straightened her shoulders, pulling her arms around herself like armor. “I was available. A pretty little distraction to make you feel better about your midlife crisis.”

“That’s not fair….”

“Fair?” Margaret’s laugh was sharp as a knife. “You want to talk about fair? I gave up everything for you! I moved into your house, I tried to be a mother to your children, I stood by you through scandal and financial problems and FBI investigations!* “You spent my money like water! You treated my children like enemies! You tried to replace their mother!”

“Because that’s what you wanted!” Margaret was screaming now, tears streaming down her face. “You wanted me to be he You wanted me to be Lucia without the history, without the baggage, without the knowledge of who you really are!” The truth of her words hit Marco like a sledgehammer. She was right. He had wanted a younger version of Lucia. Someone who would worship him the way Lucia had in the beginning, before she learned to see through his carefully constructed image.

“But I’m not her.” Margaret’s voice broke. “I’m not sweet and patient and nurturing. I’m not going to sacrifice my entire identity to make you feel like a king. I’m not going to disappear so you can shine brighter”

“I never asked you to disappear…”

“You asked me to be someone I’m not! And when I couldn’t do it, when your children rejected me and your ex-wife

Chapter 144

outsmarted me and your business partners saw through me, you decided I wasn’t worth the trouble anymore?

Marco stood up, reaching for her. “Margaret, please…”

“Don’t touch me!” She backed away from him, her eyes wild. “Don’t you dare touch me!”

“We can work this out…”

“Work what out? The fact that you’re still in love with your ex-wife? The fact that you’ve been using me as a replacement for months? The fact that you just realized I’m not worth the effort?”

Marco’s silence was answer enough.

Margaret wiped her tears with the back of her hand, smearing her makeup. When she looked at him again, her expression was cold as winter.

“You know what the difference is between me and Lucia, Marco?”

“What?”

“She loved you enough to forgive you for being weak. She loved you enough to build you up even when you tore her down. She loved you enough to give you everything and ask for nothing in return.”

Marco felt tears starting in his own eyes. “And you?”

Margaret’s smile was terrible. Full of pain and rage and bitter understanding.

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