Rise of the Formidable Ex-wife (Lucia and Alex) novel Chapter 180

Chapter 180

Lucia walked through the elegant lobby of the Lewis Fashion Institute, her heart still full from Ria’s fashion show. The evening had been extraordinary. Watching her daughter stand on that stage and share her story, seeing the transformation from broken girl to confident young woman, feeling the pride radiating from Alexander beside her.

She had stepped outside to take a call from their lawyer about the Phoenix Foundation paperwork when she heard footsteps behind her on the sidewalk. The city street was busy with evening foot traffic, people heading home from work or out for dinner, so Lucia didn’t think much of it until a familiar voice cut through the noise.

“Lucia.”

The name was spoken like a curse, dripping with venom and hatred. Lucia turned around slowly, her phone call forgotten, and found herself face to face with Margaret.

Margaret looked terrible. Her usually styled blonde hair hung limp and greasy around her shoulders. Dark circles shadowed her eyes, making her face appear gaunt and hollow. She wore a black coat that seemed to swallow her thin frame, and her hands shook slightly as she stood on the sidewalk staring at Lucia with naked hatred.

“Margaret.” Lucia ended her phone call and slipped the device into her purse. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see you.” Margaret’s voice came unnaturally calm despite the fire in her eyes. “We need to talk.”

Lucia glanced around the busy street, noting the people walking past them, the restaurant patios filled with diners, the general safety of being in a public place. Still, something in Margaret’s expression made her

nervous.

“I don’t think we have anything to discuss.” Lucia kept her tone polite but firm.

“Oh, but we do.” Margaret stepped closer, and Lucia could see the raw grief and rage burning behind her eyes. ” We have so much to discuss, Lucia. Like how you destroyed my life. Like how you killed my baby.”

The accusation hit Lucia like a physical blow. “Margaret, I’m sorry for your loss, but…”

“Sorry?” Margaret’s laugh came high and hysterical. “You’re sorry? You destroy everything I worked for and then you tell me you’re sorry?”

People on the sidewalk were beginning to notice the confrontation, some stopping to stare at the two women facing off outside the institute. Lucia took a step back, trying to create some distance.

“Margaret, you’re grieving. You’re not thinking clearly. Maybe you should…”

“Don’t you dare tell me what I should do!” Margaret’s voice rose to a near-shout, drawing more attention from passersby. “Don’t you dare stand there looking so perfect and composed and tell me how to feel!”

Lucia felt her own anger beginning to rise. After everything Margaret had put her children through, after all the cruelty and manipulation, she was now being blamed for a tragedy that was entirely the result of Marco’s

violence.

“What exactly do you think I did, Margaret?” Lucia asked, her voice steady but cold.

“You stole my family!” Margaret stepped even closer, close enough that Lucia could smell the grief and desperation coming off her in waves. “You turned Marco’s children against him! You made him crazy with loss and anger!”

“I saved my children from an abusive situation.” Lucia’s words came firm. “I protected them from people who were hurting them.”

“You manipulated them! You filled their heads with lies about me and Marco! You made them believe we were monsters when all we were trying to do was build a family!”

Margaret’s voice was getting louder and more unhinged with each word. A small crowd was beginning to gather, phones coming out to record what was clearly becoming a public scene.

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“Is that what you call it?” Lucia’s voice remained controlled, but steel ran through every word. “Building a family? When you threw away Monica’s artwork and called it garbage? When you slapped Ria across the face? When you made a thirteen-year-old girl feel so worthless that she started cutting herself?”

“They were disrespectful! They needed discipline!”

“They were children who had just lost their family structure and needed compassion, not cruelty.”

Margaret’s face twisted with fury. “You don’t know what it was like! Living with children who hated me from day one! Who compared me to their perfect mother every single moment! Who made it clear I would never be good enough!”

“Because you weren’t good enough.” Lucia’s words came quiet but cutting like knives. “You were jealous of children, Margaret. You competed with teenagers for their father’s attention instead of trying to support them through a difficult transition.”

“I tried to love them!”

“No, you tried to replace their mother. You tried to erase me from their lives so you could have Marco all to yourself. And when that didn’t work, you made them miserable until they had no choice but to leave.”

Margaret’s hands were shaking violently now, tears streaming down her face as months of suppressed rage poured out onto the sidewalk.

“You destroyed my marriage! You turned my husband against me! My baby is dead because of what you did to our family!”

“Your baby is dead because Marco pushed you down in a fit of rage.” Lucia spoke bluntly, her patience finally snapping. “The same rage he showed when he hit Lucas. The same violence you enabled and encouraged because it served your purposes.”

“That’s not true!”

“Isn’t it? You stood by and watched him abuse his children. You participated in their emotional torture. You created an environment so toxic that everyone who lived in it was damaged by the experience.”

Margaret lunged forward as if she might actually strike Lucia, but stopped herself at the last moment, her fists clenched at her sides.

“You have everything!” She screamed, no longer caring about the growing crowd of onlookers. “Everything I wanted! A loving husband, grateful children, a perfect family! You sit in your mansion and play the victim while I lost everything!”

“I have those things because I earned them.” Lucia replied coldly. “Because I put my children’s needs before my own ego. Because I chose love over control, healing over revenge.”

“You stole Marco from me!”

“Marco was never yours to steal. You were a symptom of his midlife crisis, not the love of his life. And deep down, you always knew that.”

The truth of those words hit Margaret like a physical blow. She staggered backward, her face crumpling with the pain of having her deepest fears confirmed.

“My baby…” Her voice broke completely, the word coming out as barely more than a whisper.

For a moment, Lucia felt a flicker of sympathy for this broken woman. Despite everything Margaret had done, losing a child was a tragedy that no one deserved.

But then Margaret’s grief transformed back into rage, her eyes hardening as she stared at Lucia.

“You’re going to pay for this.” The words came quietly, her voice deadly calm now. “You think you’re safe in your fortress with your perfect family? You think your money and your security guards make you untouchable?” “Margaret…”

“I’m going to destroy you the way you destroyed me. I’m going to take everything you love and make you watch while it dies.”

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The threat hung in the air between them, real and dangerous despite being spoken on a busy street surrounded by witnesses.

“You’re going to feel what I feel.” Margaret continued, her voice growing stronger with each word. “You’re going to know what it’s like to lose everything that matters. Your husband, your children, your happiness. All

of it.”

Lucia felt ice in her veins at the genuine malice in Margaret’s voice. This wasn’t just the ranting of a grieving woman. This was a promise from someone who had nothing left to lose.

“You need help, Margaret.” Lucia kept her voice quiet. “Professional help. You’re in pain, and you’re not thinking clearly.”

“I’m thinking more clearly than I have in months.” Margaret’s response came sharp. “I know exactly what needs to happen. You destroyed my life, my marriage, my baby. Now it’s my turn.”

Margaret turned to walk away, then paused and looked back at Lucia one more time.

“Everything that happens to your family from now on is your fault.” Her words came cold and deliberate.” Every tear they cry, every moment of fear they feel, every loss they suffer. Remember that you caused it all when you decided to play God with other people’s lives.”

She took several steps, then stopped again. The crowd around them had grown larger, phones held up, recording every word.

“I know where you live.” Margaret’s voice dropped lower, more menacing. “I know where your children go to school. I know their routines, their friends, the places they feel safe.”

Lucia’s blood ran cold. “Are you threatening my children?”

“I’m promising you that your perfect little family is going to fall apart piece by piece. Maybe I’ll start with that art studio Monica loves so much. Or maybe I’ll go after Ria’s precious fashion career. Lucas’s football scholarship. Lena’s gallery exhibition.”

“Stay away from my children.” Lucia’s voice came low and dangerous.

“Or what? You’ll call the police? Tell them I threatened you on a public street? With all these witnesses who can testify I never touched you?” Margaret gestured to the crowd around them. “I’m smarter than Marco. I won’ t make his mistakes.”

“You’re making a bigger mistake right now.”

“No, Lucia. You made the mistake when you stole my husband and turned his children into weapons. When you destroyed the family we were building. When you made sure my baby died on a marble floor.”

Margaret’s face contorted with rage and grief, tears streaming freely now. “You don’t get to be happy while I’m in hell. You don’t get your perfect ending while I have nothing.”

“Everything that’s happened to you is the result of your own choices.” Lucia spoke each word clearly, making sure Margaret heard. “You chose to have an affair with a married man. You chose to be cruel to children who were already hurting. You chose to stay with Marco even after you saw him hit Lucas.”

“He wouldn’t have hit Lucas if Lucas had shown him respect!”

“He’s a child, Margaret! A child who needed guidance, not violence! And you enabled that violence because it meant Marco was taking your side against his own children!”

The crowd around them had gone quiet, everyone listening to the confrontation unfold.

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