Rise of the Formidable Ex-wife (Lucia and Alex) novel Chapter 247

ecná came in quietly, moving through the door like she was trying not to be noticed, settling into the corner armchair with her knees pulled up to her chest. She had turned completely inward, the way she did when the world became too loud and too much. She did not speak. She just sat there, smaller than Lucia had ever seen her, and that silence was somehow worse than if she had come in angry like her siblings.

“Baby?” Lucia asked softly.

Lena shook her head, a tiny movement, and piled her knees closer. She was not just withdrawn. She was disappearing.

Monica appeared in the doorway last, and Lucia could see immediately that something had shifted in her daughter since that morning. Her movements were slower. Her eyes had taken on that particular flatness that came when someone had been crying too much for too long.

“They are calling me a thief again,” Monica said without preamble, without any of the usual warm greetings. She moved to sit on the arm of Lucia’s chair rather than taking her own seat, positioning herself close but not quite touching. “Someone tracked down how much money I have. Not the money I gave away, the money I still have. And they are calling me a gold digger. They are saying I manipulated everything so I could get rich.” Her voice was hollow. “I did not choose any of this. I did not ask for money. I did not ask to inherit anything from my biological father. And yet somehow none of that matters because the narrative is easier if I am greedy.”

“Monica… Lucia started, but she had no idea how to finish that sentence.

“The worst part is that I understand why they believe it,” Monica continued, and that was somehow worse than anger would have been. “Money makes sense to people. It is a cleaner story than trauma. It is easier to believe that I am a victim of circumstances and a beneficiary of wealth than to believe that I survived something terrible and that I am still trying to figure out how to live in the aftermath.” She looked at her hands. “I gave away sixty-four million dollars and somehow I am still the villain in their story.”

The room held all of it, the anger and the fear and the helplessness and the guilt, all of it tangled together in a way that Lucia could not untangle. Each child carrying a different version of the same wound, but the wounds were starting to diverge now in dangerous ways. Ria wanted to fight back aggressively. Lucas wanted legal action. Lena was shutting down completely. Monica was drowning in guilt.

Lucia pulled Monica against her side and felt her daughter’s weight, the physical presence of her, the fact that she was real and here and hurting.

“This is not acceptable,” Lucia said quietly. She looked toward Ria pacing in anger. She looked at Lucas leaning against the window with his jaw clenched. She looked at Lena curled small in the armchair, disappearing. “This is not something we are going to just endure.”

Alexander had been standing in the hallway through most of it, listening, his expression going through a careful transformation as he took in the scope of what was happening to his family. The anger was there, buqunderneath it was something colder and more calculated. Something that looked like the businessman reassessing a problem and deciding on a final solution.

He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

“I am filing a defamation lawsuit against the Lowe family tomorrow morning,” he said. His voice was quiet but it carried absolute weight. “Individually and collectively, against every fabricated claim they have made publicly, every statement they made in that video that cannot be substantiated.”

Ria stopped pacing, Lucas looked away from the window. Lena lifted her head slightly from her knees. Monica straightened up from her mother’s side.

I responded to their first hes with documentation,” Alexander continued. “I sat in a press conference and defended my daughter’s name with my own voice and with evidence. And they responded by manufacturing a story about a miscarriage tectur public opinion against us further” His jaw was tight, his eyes hard in a way that reminded Lucia of exardy why he

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Chapter 217-

Chapter 247

Lucia sat in the study with he laptop open and did not look away even when the knew she should. The costs or red beneath the video in an enes stream, hundreds of them becoming thousands becoming something too large to proces Strangers who had never met her, never met Monica, never stood in the basement of the courtroom or the merge, and yes they felt completely entitled to certainty about exactly who she was and what she deserved.

Vile woman.

Should be in prison instead of Margaret,

Poor Margaret, destroyed by a jealous ex wife with too much money.

Her hands were cold around the edge of the laptop. She kept scrolling because some part of her could not stop the way you could not stop pressing on a bruise once you found it, needing to know exactly how much it hurt

The study door opened.

Ria came in first, her school bag still on her shoulder, her face carrying an expression of controlled fury that Lucia had not seen in years. Her daughter was shaking slightly, the kind of tremor that came from holding something together by pure force of will

“We need to respond, Ria said without preamble, without sitting down, without any of the usual greetings. “We need to go on camera and tell people exactly what happened. We need to make them understand that you are not vote jealous ex that what they saw was a lie.”

Lucia closed the laptop and looked at her daughter. “What happened at schoolr

“Nothing happened, Ria said, and the way she said it made clear that something significant had definitely happened “Someone made a comment in the hallway. Someone else laughed. It was not a big deal. But her hands were clenched at her sides, and Lucia could see the effort it took for Ria not to punch something. “The point is that people believe them. They watched four minutes of video and they have decided they know our entire family”

“Come sit down, Lucia said.

She pracent instead, her nuoverent sharp and angry. “We keep staying silent and bug them o warrative. We keep thinking that the trull eventually win and manwhile they are on there making us look ice Her voice was risington as to wing in and wait for this to resolve iul. This strategy Ta

Lucas appeared in the doorway pens, still in hear the fabric, his face carrying a ja hardness than Id as barely rearasarage

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Se came ty moving through the door like she was trying not to be noticed, settling into the corner armchair with

puller up to her chest. She had turned completely inward, the way she did when the world became too loud and so much. The dirt mer speak. She gust sat there, smaller than Lucia had ever seen her, and that silence was somehow worse dan f he had come in angrilike her siblings,

“Baby” Lucia wikert softly

Lena shook her heart, a tiny movement, and pulled her knees closer. She was not just withdrawn. She was disappearing.

Monica appeared in the doorway last, and Lucia could see immediately that something had shifted in her daughter since

morning. Her movements were slower. Her eyes had taken on that particular flatness that came when someone had been crying too much for too long

“They are calling me a thief again,” Monica said without preamble, without any of the usual warm greetings. She moved to s on the arm of Lucia’s chair rather than taking her own seat, positioning herself close but not quite touching. “Someone worked down how much money I have. Not the money I gave away, the money I still have. And they are calling me a gold- digger. They are saying I manipulated everything so I could get rich.” Her voice was hollow. “I did not choose any of this. I did now ask for money. I did not ask to inherit anything from my biological father. And yet somehow none of that matters because the narrative is easier if I am greedy”

“Monica Lucia started, but she had no idea how to finish that sentence.

“The worst part is that I understand why they believe it,” Monica continued, and that was somehow worse than anger would have been. “Money makes sense to people. It is a cleaner story than trauma. It is easier to believe that I am a victim of circumstances and a beneficiary of wealth than to believe that I survived something terrible and that I am still trying to figure out how to live in the aftermath” She looked at her hands. “I gave away sixty-four million dollars and somehow I am still the villain in their story”

The room held all of it, the anger and the fear and the helplessness and the guilt, all of it tangled together in a way that Lucia could not untangle. Each child carrying a different version of the same wound, but the wounds were starting to diverge now in dangerous ways. Kia wanted to fight back aggressively. Lucas/wanted legal action. Lena was shutting down completely. Monica was drowning in guilt.

Euera pailled Monica against her side and felt her daughter weight, the physical presence of her, the fact that she was real and here and hurting

“That is not acceptable,” Lucia said quietly. She looked toward Ria pacing in anger. She looked at Lucas leaning against window with his jaw clenched. She looked at Lena curled small in the armchair, disappearing “This is not something going to pest endure”

Alexander had been standing in the hallway through most of it, listening, his expression going through. transformation as he took in the scope of what was happening to his family. The anger was there Sug something colder and more calculated. Something that looked like the businessinan reassessing a a futual andufivm.

$* *repped as the room and closed the door behind him.

“Dan Bling x defamation lawsuit against the Lowe family tomorrow morning” he cal His v abcdine weight Individually soul collectively against every tabiated claim they have souls pubda tarke n that sider that caenor be substantiated

*sa stripped pacing futas looked way from the window ben hinted her bold slightly dum

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And they responded by ma The with my twa bint and with ovides

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Chap 797

was doopsons was he decided to be I have given them every opportunity to retreat. I have taken every reasonable step to

diother accusations with facts. That ends now.”

He looked arcadiolus chimy turn, and Lugia could see the moment when understanding settled on their faces. This was not just abou defending the family name anymore. This was about making someone pay a cost for what they had done.

Tunderstand that the lawsuit might not change public opinion immediately,” Alexander said, and his voice was steady in the way that made clear he had already calculated the cost of what he was about to do. “But what it will do is force them to answer for every single he they told. In a courtroom. Under oath. Where perjury means something real.”

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