The Hidden Empress Stripping Her Secrets After Divorce novel Chapter 562

"That's all."

The line went dead, replaced by the hollow beep of a disconnected call.

Lyra sat completely paralyzed, the phone still pressed to her ear.

The words 'Call Ended' glared back at her, stinging her eyes. She stared at the screen for several long seconds before slowly lowering her arm.

Her chest felt impossibly tight.

It wasn't heartbreak. It was something far more suffocating—a heavy, suffocating lump lodged in her throat that she couldn't swallow or spit out.

Meeting tomorrow.

What were they supposed to talk about?

About Leo? About Leon? About how she had meticulously manipulated him for three years?

She squeezed her eyes shut and slumped against the headboard.

Her mind was a chaotic mess.

In truth, she had rehearsed this moment countless times. She had spent hours plotting exactly what to say when Christian inevitably found out.

'I didn't mean to do it.'

Even she didn't buy that garbage.

'I was just terrified of losing you.'

Pathetic. It was entirely pathetic. She made herself sick just thinking about it.

'I was terrified your father would never accept me.'

Now, that was the absolute truth. Lawrence Lancaster had despised her from day one. He looked at her like dirt on his shoe. A mere ballerina with zero political influence and no aristocratic bloodline—she was entirely unworthy of the Lancaster empire. Unlike Evelyn Sullivan, the daughter of his long-lost first love.

And what did Lyra have?

Absolutely nothing.

A deadbeat father who struck it rich on a fluke, a superficial, status-obsessed mother, and a completely unmanageable sister.

How was she ever supposed to compete with someone like Evelyn Sullivan?

Lyra opened her eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling.

She never should have left for Europe.

If she hadn't moved to France, she never would have crossed paths with Leon again. She never would have tangled with those absolute psychopaths, never would have gotten dragged into this horrific mess. So what if Christian was married to Evelyn? They despised each other. If she had just stayed in New York, staying close to Christian, floating in his orbit... knowing him, he would have divorced Evelyn eventually.

And then what?

Christian would have felt guilty. He would have felt like he owed her for wasting her prime years. The Langford family would have reaped the benefits, and her mother would have paraded around the country club like royalty. She could have easily married some other trust-fund billionaire—she used to be the 'Sprite of the Stage,' the absolute darling of high society. Men used to line up for her.

And now?

Now she had nothing.