VICTORIA'S POV

It took three rings for the person on the other side of the phone to answer. His soothing voice made me pause, hating ever leaving in the first place.

"Victoria Rae Blackwood. I spent six years waiting for the day my daughter will call me. You finally did today." I heard Felix Blackwood's hoarse voice filling my ear.

It felt so good hearing my father's voice. Sniffing, I muttered into the phone, "I am sorry I ever left, Father. Zayden is a cheater and he killed our daughter." I cried out into the phone.

Dad had always been right about his instincts towards Zayden. He had warned me about eloping and marrying him, but I was so in love. What an idiot I had been for falling for his whims.

"What do you want?" Felix's voice cut through my thoughts.

Father was a hard man to please and if I wanted back into the Blackwood family to take my rightful place as his heiress, I knew I had to abide to his conditions.

"Your help in destroying Zayden Hawksley. I promise I will be the dutiful daughter you demand of me." I begged through the phone.

"You mean it, right? No complaining. Whatever I want and no running away with stray lovers?" Dad asked, pausing to hear my response.

I knew what I was getting myself into, but my quest to avenge my Little Lenora and destroy Zayden was greater than Felix Blackwood's control over me.

"I vow on Lenora's grave, father." I stated, grinding my teeth in those words.

"Get your ass home let's plan on how to wreck that asshole of a husband." Felix said.

"Ex-Husband, father. I will be serving him the divorce papers, and he will sign it without even a doubt because to him, I am just a dimwit who is obsessed with him." I crashed the words into the phone.

"That's my girl. And Victoria? It's good having you back." Felix said before the line went dead.

Starting out of Hawksley Enterprise and the scorching sun baking my skin, I walked over to my car, asking the driver to take me home.

*

All the anger I had earlier when I had spotted Zayden in his office with my best friend in his office had now dissipated and replaced with ambition. First, I needed to pack my valise, I was getting the fuck out of here.

On my way home, my lawyer had sent me a draft of the divorce papers I would be serving Zayden, and I'd got a good lie to cover for it as well.

DING!

The sound of a notification popped in my phone and I grunted, plucking my phone and looking at it.

Maddie Baddie tagged you on Instagram.

Frowning, I tapped into the notification, and my head spun as I looked at an image of Madison smiling brightly at the camera, her blonde hair radiantly richness. It wasn't her I was looking at though; it was at the man standing behind her. The photo was edited, so it was impossible to see the man's face. What gave him away though was his watch, A breguet I got for him on our fifth wedding anniversary.

"Fucking Cheater." I grunted angrily.

What got me ached up the more was Maddie's Instagram caption.

BABY BUMP REVEAL. BABY DADDY'S STILL A SECRET. WISH ME LUCK, FIRST TIME MOM.

All the air seemed to have escaped my lungs, I couldn't believe he got my best friend... no, ex best friend pregnant too.

"Fuck it! This is so bad." I cursed out, throwing my phone on top of the bed, furious at what I had just discovered.

I continued packing to remove my mind from what I was experiencing right now.

I was done packing my box when I spotted Lenora's gown. It was what she had worn for her fifth birthday party. Her surgery had been confirmed.

"Am I going to be healthy again mom? Will I be able to play with my friends again?" Lenora had asked; her face filled with hope.

"Yes, baby. And you can also go to school." I had told her and the memory of her smile still played in my head.

Sniffing her clothes, I held it tightly into my chest until I heard the door click.

"Hey Victoria." Maddie called out, her fake smile in place as she walked into the room, Zayden following a few steps behind.

"Hi! Back early." I commented, my eyes on Zayden, fighting my disgust.

Madison replied to the question, although it was directed at my husband.

"Yes, Love. I've got big news; I am going to be a Mommy. Oh, Tory, I have so longed to get pregnant for the man of my dreams and start a happy family." Madison explained, walking towards Lenora's snow globe, the only toy I had kept after she had died.

She had said she wanted to visit Snow City when it snowed. She referred to New York and every day, I regretted not taking her there. I wished we had more time. I had promised to take her after her surgery.

Damn you Zayden fucking Hawksley.

Lifting my chin, I glared at Zayden, not being able to bite my tongue. "Are you the father of Maddie's baby?" I questioned.

CLANKKKKK!

The shattering sound of the snow globe made me shake as I turned around to see Maddie standing there; my baby's toy shattered to million pieces.

"No! No! No! What have you done?" I asked running towards the snow globe, confused about what to do.

"I'm sorry, Tory, it was a mistake." She apologized but I could see a fake smile creak up her face. It disappeared almost immediately.

Zayden approached me, his hands reaching out to touch my shoulders, and his mere touch repulsed me.

"Why are you packing? Are you going somewhere?" He asked his brows, quirking.

I didn't miss the part that he hadn't answered my question. I didn't push; I rather put my emotions in check and shook my head.

"No! I am just cleaning my wardrobe. I need to go do shopping later." I lied between my teeth. Maddie cleared her throat and Zayden removed his hands from me, stepping backward.

"Oh, Madison's apartment is under construction, she is adding a nursery and some other stuff, I hope you don't mind her spending the next couple of months with us while we get her place sorted out, huh?" Zayden asked.

I glanced at Maddie, and I knew they both planned it.

Fool me once, I am a fool. My husband and best friend wouldn't be fooling me a second time.

"Of course. Maddie, you are welcome to stay as long as you wish," I said meaning it.

I wouldn't be here to see her fuck my husband. Besides, she could keep him. I was done being Zayden Hawksley's dumb wife.

VICTORIA'S POV

Laying on the bed, I thought about the snow globe Maddie had destroyed. She knew it meant a lot to me, and yet, she let it slip out of her hands. That was no fucking mistake.

Thinking about how I would punish Zayden and his mistress, I felt his side of the bed squeak. At first, I thought he was going to use the bathroom, but when the door creaked and seconds later, I heard Maddie's own open and then closed, I couldn't withhold the hot tears that sprang out of my eyes.

Minutes later, the loud moaning that filled my room was outrageous. I knew Madison was aware she was being loud, fuck! The neighbors five blocks away could hear the bitch moaning.

Covering my ears and zoning it, I barely made it through the night before I had to walk downstairs for breakfast.

"Hey Baby, had a good sleep?" Zayden asked a bright smile on his face as he poured me a mug of coffee, handing it to me.

"I slept well." I lied, my gaze coming up to stand on Madison's face.

She shrugged before munching on her toast, while her free hand scrolled through her phone.

Zayden broke the silence. "Baby, I was thinking... could you use the guest room for a while? I want Maddie to sleep in the Master bedroom." He stated as if that wasn't the most outrageous thing to say.

"Why? Isn't she a guest in this house?" I asked holding back from being mean.

"You know how I hate that cranky bed, Tory, besides, it's what is best for my baby." She added pouting her lips which had fillers in them.

I looked at Zayden, trying to make him see how weird that sounded.

Zayden's hand brushed through my hair, his lips caressing my skin. Yesterday? I would have melted in his arms, but today it repulsed me.

"Please, Victoria? For the baby. I know you wouldn't let that poor baby suffer for being conceived, right?" He pushed and because I didn't want to talk about it anymore, I accepted.

"Fine. Madison can have the master bedroom." I spat out.

"Yay! You are so nice, Tory. I promise you will be the child's godmother, just like I was Lenora's." She muttered and anger burned through me at the mention of my daughter's name. They had no right to call her, not after what they had done to her.

"I will go and clear the room for you, Maddie." I said, excusing myself from the breakfast table.

Having to pretend everything was fine gave me the ick, doing it again would make me puke.

Searching through the manila file I brought home yesterday, I pulled out the divorce papers and grabbed a pen.

I found Maddie close to Zayden, and it was quite intimate. They looked like they had been kissing before my footsteps caused them to break. Good. This distraction would aid in my favor.

"Zayden, could you please sign these documents? Our gardener, Mr. Jullian, asked for it. Said something about showing it at the shop so that the owner knows the plants are for Mr. Hawksley." I said.

"Oh! Sure, baby. I spoke to him about it last week." Zayden concurred, bringing the pen to the signature box.

I stood there, tensed, not breathing and praying to whatever superior being that Zayden should not read anything on the paper.

His eyes closed in on the paper when Maddie screamed, evidently bored from the lack of attention Zayden wasn't giving her.

"What, Madison?" Zayden asked.

'Fuck you, bitch. Zayden, please don't look at the words on the paper. Pleaseeee.' I begged silently.

"I got hurt by the hot kettle. I think it needs a booboo." Maddie said, and when our eyes locked, I could sense that she was lying.

Zayden huffed. Put his head down and scrambled on the papers, handing them to me without reading it.

I felt relieved about that. Zayden fucking Hawksley had just signed our divorced papers, he could do whatever the fuck he wanted with his mistress now.

*

Back in the room, I placed a call to my lawyer, telling him to start the divorce procedure. I wanted nothing to do with Zayden.

"I want all my investments in Hawksley Enterprise withdrawn. Tell our investors to step back from Hawksley; the company is about to crash. If they stay, they will acquire damages they wouldn't recover from in the next twenty years." I said strictly.

"Yes Mrs. Hawksley." Taylor responded.

"No, I am now Victoria Blackwood." I told him, hanging up.

I was arranging some of Lenora's things I wanted to take with me in a box when Maddie walked into the room; her snarky concern filled me.

"I can't believe Little Lenora is no more. I still miss her pretty smile and how warm her hugs were." Madison filled the gap and I felt like punching her in the stomach.

When I didn't respond, Maddie added, "I am sorry I broke her snow globe. I know how that meant a lot to you. But she is gone now and you have to move on, Tory, forget about her." She uttered.

Tears were flowing down my cheeks as I walked up to Maddie and slapped her.

"Fuck you, Maddie, you consciously broke the globe so I could move on? You are pathetic." I accused.

Maddie would have refused it; anything other than the truth would have been better, but the way I felt when she looked at me in the eyes and said those words would always haunt me.

"Maybe it was Lenora's way of using me to tell you to let go." She pushed.

That was the last straw.

SLAP!

I landed a resounding slap across Maddie's face, her hand coming up to hold the red spot on her face.

"Keep Lennie's name out of your fucking mouth." I blurted out.

Carrying the box, I brushed past Maddie, my shoulder thumping against hers.

I was out of here. My divorce papers in one hand and the remnants of a child that would have loved the life I had planned for her.

All that was left were memories, and a vow of revenge. Zayden Hawksley would pay for this.