THE SPITEFUL BRIDE: Marry To Rival's Son novel Chapter 117

Chapter 117

Time fractured.

Mia stood at the doorway, watching her husband kiss another woman, and felt something inside her chest cave in completely. Not break, cave. Like a building collapsing from the inside out, leaving nothing but empty space and dust.

Her knees wanted to buckle. Her vision blurred at the edges. But she remained standing, frozen, as if moving would make it real.

Stefan’s eyes which was open, caught hers. The moment he saw her, his whole body went rigid. Panic flooded his face, raw, desperate panic, and he pushed Sammy away so suddenly she fell off his lap and landed on the cold tiles.

“Mia…..” Her name came out strangled, like he was drowning.

But Mia didn’t hear it. Not really. Everything sounded muffled, like she was underwater. She watched his mouth move, saw the horror in his eyes, but the words didn’t reach her.

Sammy turned slowly, a satisfied smirk playing at her lips. She looked at Mia like she’d just won a game they hadn’t even known they were playing.

For a long moment, nobody moved.

Then Mia did something that surprised even her. She smiled, like she always did when she was trying to mask her emotions. It was hollow and polite but didn’t reach her eyes

She bent down, set her tablet carefully on the side table, and straightened up with that same eerily calm expression.

“Seems like I interrupted something,” she said quietly, her voice steady as glass. “I’ll leave you to it.” And then she turned and walked away.

Stefan’s voice followed her down the hallway. “Mia, wait…..please…..”

But she kept walking, her heels clicking against the marble floor in perfect rhythm. Click. Click. Click. Each step taking her further away from the man who’d just shattered her world.

Stefan didn’t follow Mia immediately, he looked at Sammy before walking off in chase of her. He didn’t need to say anything, his stares was enough to tell her she’d done what she wouldn’t be escape from.

Mia passed employees who smiled and greeted her as she walked. She nodded back, even managed small responses, all while feeling like she was watching herself from outside her own body.

The elevator doors opened. She stepped inside. But instead of going down, she pressed the button for the fifteenth floor, the executive level where several offices sat empty, waiting for the company’s expansion.

She needed space. She needed silence. She needed somewhere Stefan wouldn’t immediately think to look for her.

The hallway on the fifteenth floor was quieter, dimmer. Most of the offices were locked, but she found one at the end, a corner office with floor-to-ceiling windows and nothing but empty space inside.

Perfect.

Mia slipped inside and closed the door behind her, leaning against it for a moment. Her chest was still tight, her throat still burning, but she refused to let the tears come.

She couldn’t break down. Not here. Not ever. That wasn’t who she was.

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12 SHE COULDN’T BREAK DOWN

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She walked to the desk, a sleek, modern piece that had never been used, and pulled out her laptop. Work. She needed to work. She needed to focus on something, anything, that wasn’t the image of Stefan’s mouth on Sammy’s.

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard for a moment before she opened the project dashboard. Interior design mockups filled the screen. Color schemes. Furniture layouts Timeline adjustments.

She tried to concentrate, tried to lose herself in the familiar rhythm of emails and schedules and decision-making. But every few seconds, her mind would drift back to that moment in the doorway.

The way Stefan’s eyes had widened when he saw her. The way Sammy had looked so pleased with herself. The way her entire world had tilted sideways in the space of a heartbeat.

She deleted half an email and started over. Then deleted that one too.

Her hands were shaking.

She pressed them flat against the desk, trying to steady herself. The cool surface felt grounding, real. She focused on that sensation, on the smooth wood grain under her palms, on the way the afternoon light filtered through the windows.

But it wasn’t working.

Every time she tried to read a document, the words blurred together. Every time she tried to type, her fingers felt clumsy and disconnected. Her mind kept replaying that kiss, examining it from every angle like she was studying evidence at a crime scene.

Had Stefan kissed her back? It had looked like it, but maybe she’d imagined it. Maybe it had been one-sided. Maybe Sammy had caught him off guard and he’d frozen.

But then why hadn’t he pushed her away immediately? Why had there been that pause?

That terrible, heart-stopping pause where she had stood there waiting for him to choose her, and he’d taken too long.

She closed the laptop with more force than necessary. The sharp sound echoed in the empty office.

She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t sit here and pretend to work while everything in her felt like the were closing up. She couldn’t analyze and rationalize and make sense of something that felt like it was designed to destroy her.

She needed to get out of here.

Mia packed up her things quickly, her movements sharp and efficient. She’d perfected the art of looking composed even when she was falling apart, and she called on that skill now.

She checked her reflection in the dark computer screen, smoothed down her hair, and walked out of the office like she owned the building.

Which, technically, she did.

The elevator ride down felt endless. Each floor that passed brought her closer to the lobby, closer to the possibility of running into Stefan. She wasn’t ready for that conversation yet. Wasn’t ready to hear his explanations or his apologies or his promises that it didn’t mean anything.

The lobby was busy with the usual afternoon crowd, people coming and going, meetings wrapping up, the general hum of a successful business day. Mia moved through it all like a ghost, nodding at familiar faces but not really seeing them.

She needed air. She needed space. She needed to be anywhere but here.

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117 SNE COTADN’T BREAK DOWN

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Outside, the city was alive with its usual energy. Cars honkel, people rushed past with their phones pressed to their ears, street vendors called out their wares. Normal life continuing like nothing had changed.

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