Rise of the Formidable Ex-wife (Lucia and Alex) novel Chapter 69

The conference room was too quiet.

Lucia sat at the long glass table, but she wasn’t really there. Her body was. Her hands rested near the laptops. Her phone lay beside them, screen lighting up every few seconds. But her mind felt far away, Distant. Like she was watching everything from outside herself.

Three laptops were open in front of her.

Numbers. Contracts. Emails. Evidence.

All the things she had once needed to survive.

Now they just looked cold.

“Suppliers are ready,” Sarah said.

Her voice was steady. Professional. Like always.

1

Lucia blinked slowly and looked up.

“For Hart Industries?”

“Yes. Five main suppliers. Three already agreed to terminate. The other two are holding back. They want better offers before they cut ties.”

Lucia leaned back slightly in her chair.

The leather felt cold against her spine.

“Give them what they want,” she said.

Her voice came out flat.

“Better terms. Bigger contracts. Make it impossible for them to stay with Marco.”

Sarah nodded. “It will cost us.”

“I don’t care.”

And she didn’t. Not anymore.

Money meant nothing now. Not compared to what she was doing. Not compared to what she had already done.

Sarah tapped on her tablet. “Once they leave, Hart Industries won’t be able to produce anything. No materials. No manufacturing. Existing contracts will fail.”

Lucia stared at the screen in front of her.

She could already see it.

Factories slowing down. Workers sent home. Deadlines missed. Clients pulling out.

Marco losing everything piece by piece.

“Do it,” she said quietly.

Sarah hesitated for a second.

Then she nodded again. “It will be done today.”

She turned to leave, then stopped.

“And Margaret?” she asked.

Lucia’s fingers tightened slightly on the table.

“What about her?”

୮

“The second batch is ready. Financial records. Property documents. Bank transfers from Trenton Navajo. Everything is

verified.”

Lucia closed her eyes for a brief second.

Images flashed.

Margaret smiling at that anniversary party.

Margaret standing beside Marco.

Margaret taking everything that had once been hers.

Chapter 69

“Release it,” Lucia said..

No hesitation this–time.

“All of it.”

Sarah studied her for a moment.

“This will finish her,” she said. “Completely. There won’t be anything left after this

Lucia opened her eyes.

“That’s the point.”

Sarah nodded once more and walked out.

The door closed softly behind her.

Silence filled the room again.

Lucia didn’t move.

Her eyes drifted to one of the screens.

A document was open. Clean. Clear. Cold.

Wire transfers.

Large amounts.

Regular dates.

Margaret’s name.

Another tab showed a property deed.

A brownstone in Tribeca.

Paid in cash.

Two million dollars.

Not by Margaret.

By Trenton Navajo.

Lucia stared at the name.

A criminal.

A man under investigation.

A man Margaret had taken money from.

A man who had funded her life.

Her chest didn’t tighten.

Her heart didn’t race.

There was nothing.

No anger.

No satisfaction.

No relief.

Just… nothing.

Her phone buzzed.

She picked it up slowly.

A notification.

“Supplier termination confirmed.”

Another buzz.

“Second supplier pulling out.”

She placed the phone back down.

Watched it light up again.

And again.

୮

Chapter 69

Each message was a step forward-

Bach update meest she was winning.

She should have felt it.

Something.

Anything.

But she didn’t.

She just sat there.

Still.

Empty.

The door opened again.

Alexander walked in.

He didn’t say anything at first.

Just looked at her.

At the screens.

At the untouched coffee beside her that had gone cold.

“You look like you haven’t moved in hours,” he said.

Lucia let out a slow breath.

“Have I?”

He walked closer and glanced at the screens.

“Suppliers are leaving him.”

“Yes.”

“And Margaret?”

“About to lose everything.”

Alexander pulled out a chair and sat across from her.

“And how does that feel?”

Lucia looked at him.

She wanted to answer quickly.

To say something sharp.

Something confident.

But the words didn’t come easily.

“I don’t know,” she said finally.

That was the truth.

Alexander leaned forward slightly.

“You don’t look like someone who just won.”

Lucia gave a small, empty laugh.

“Maybe I don’t know how winning feels anymore.”

Her phone buzzed again.

She picked it up this time.

Another update.

“Fourth supplier terminated contract.”

Then another.

“Media publishing new financial leak on Margaret.”

It was happening.

Everything was happening exactly the way she had planned.

す

୮

Chapter 69

Step by step.

Perfect

Clean

Unstoppable.

Lucia stared at the messages for a long moment.

Then she put the phone down again.

“Do you remember,” she said suddenly, “what I was like before all of this?”

Alexander didn’t answer right away.

“Yes,” he said after a moment.

“Then tell me.”

His eyes softened slightly.

“You were… lighter,” he said. “You smiled more. You cared about small things.”

Lucia let out a breath.

“I used to care about what Lena ate for lunch,” she said quietly. “About school meetings. About birthdays. About… stupid things that felt important.”

“They were important,” Alexander said.

Lucia shook her head slowly.

“They don’t feel real anymore.”

Another buzz.

She ignored it this time.

“I thought this would fix something,” she said.

“What?”

“The feeling that I was nothing.”

Her voice was calm.

Too calm.

“Marco made me feel like I didn’t matter. Like I was replaceable. Like I could be erased and no one would care.”

She swallowed.

“So I decided to prove him wrong.”

Alexander watched her carefully.

“And did you?”

Lucia looked at the screens.

At the damage she had caused.

At the lives she was tearing apart.

“Yes,” she said.

Then her voice dropped.

“But it doesn’t feel like I thought it would.”

Silence settled between them.

Heavy.

Real.

Her phone buzzed again.

This time she picked it up.

す

“Final supplier terminated. Hart Industries unable to continue production.”

Lucia stared at the message.

Her fingers didn’t move.

Chapter 69

Didn’t shake.

dn’t react.

“That’s it,” she said softly.

Alexander looked at her.

“That was the last one?”

“Yes.”

Marco’s company was finished.

Just like that.

Years of work.

Gone in one day.

Lucia waited.

For something to rise in her chest!

Satisfaction.

Relief.

Victory.

Nothing came.

Her chest felt tight instead.

Not full.

Not proud.

Just… tight.

Like something was pressing against her ribs.

“I thought I would feel stronger,” she said.

Alexander didn’t interrupt.

“I thought I would feel… powerful. Like I finally took control back.”

She looked down at her hands.

“But I just feel tired.”

That word stayed in the air.

Tired.

Not victorious.

Not satisfied.

Just tired.

Another notification came in.

This one different.

“Margaret linked to money laundering case. Property under investigation.”

Lucia stared at it.

She imagined Margaret reading that.

Imagined her panic.

Her fear.

Her world collapsing.

A few weeks ago, that image would have made her smile.

Now it just sat there.

Empty.

“She’s done,” Lucia said.

Alexander nodded.

Chapter 69

“And Marco?”

He phone buzzed again.

She didn’t even need to check.

“Gone too,” she said.

She leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling

For a long time, neither of them spoke.

Then Lucia said quietly,

“What happens now?”

Alexander didn’t answer immediately.

“You tell me.”

She let out a slow breath.

“That’s the problem. I don’t know.”

She sat up again.

Her eyes looked different now.

Not sharp.

Not burning.

Just… lost.

“I spent so long planning this. Every step. Every move. Everything I would do to destroy them.”

She pressed her fingers lightly against her temple.

“And now it’s done. Almost done. And I don’t know what comes after.”

“You live,” Alexander said.

Lucia let out a small, bitter laugh.

“Do I even know how to do that anymore?”

He didn’t answer.

Because they both knew the truth.

She didn’t.

Her phone buzzed again.

She picked it up slowly.

“Board meeting called. Hart Industries filing for bankruptcy. Marco position is threatened.”

Lucia read the message twice.

Then locked her phone.

“That was the last thing,” she said.

Her voice sounded far away.

Like it didn’t belong to her.

Alexander stood.

“You need air.”

Lucia nodded.

“Yes.”

She stood up.

Her legs felt strange.

Heavy.

Like she had been sitting too long.

Like she had forgotten how to move.

She grabbed her coat without thinking and walked out.

Chapter 69

The hallway felt too bright.

460 frurmal.

People passed her

Talking

Laughing.

Working.

No one knew what she had just done.

No one cared.

Outside, the city moved like nothing had changed.

Cars honking.

People crossing streets.

Voices blending into noise.

Life continuing.

Lucia stepped onto the sidewalk.