Chapter 3: Invite

Sienna’s POV

The Laurent family was throwing their annual gala, and as the only daughter-in-law and the wife of the heir, I was expected to play my part. I stood in front of the full-length mirror, smoothing out the red silk gown that flowed down my body like a waterfall.

Xavier had once told me red was my color. Now, looking at my reflection, I wondered if he had said it just to be polite or if it was another hollow compliment meant to keep me quiet. I had chosen this dress specifically, a small, desperate part of me still hoping to catch a flicker of the man I used to know.

A week had passed since he threw those divorce papers at me. A week of living in a house that felt more like a tomb. I still couldn’t bring myself to sign them. I kept telling myself that he was just stressed, that he didn't mean it, that we could still find a way back.

When we reached the entrance of the grand ballroom, Xavier didn't even look at me. He gave a sharp, cold nod and placed his hand on my waist. His touch was heavy but completely empty of warmth.

"Remember the plan," he leaned in and whispered, his breath hot against my ear. "We are the perfect couple tonight. No scenes. No drama. I’m not ready for the world to know our business yet."

It was all a lie. We walked through the doors as a golden couple, but I felt like I was walking to my own execution.

Vivian Laurent, his mother, rushed over to us the moment she saw us. She beamed, looking at me with genuine affection. "Sienna, darling! You look absolutely breathtaking. Xavier, you are a lucky man to have such a beautiful woman by your side." She turned to him, her eyes sharpening slightly. "You’re treating her well, aren't you?"

Xavier forced a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Of course, Mother."

He hadn't even finished the sentence when the room seemed to go silent. I followed his gaze toward the door and felt my heart drop into my stomach.

Vanessa Reed had arrived.

My hand instinctively pulled away from Xavier’s side. My skin felt like it was peeling .What was she doing here? This was a private family event.

Vanessa walked straight toward us, a confident, predatory smile on her face. Before I could move, she pulled me into a hug, pecking my cheeks with a fake sweetness that turned my blood to ice. I stood there like a statue, refusing to hug her back.

"Sienna," she whispered into my ear, her voice dripping with mockery. "Three years later and he still hasn't learned to love you. Don't you think it’s time to stop embarrassing yourself?

I tried to pull away, but she held on tighter.

"Xavier never forgot me," she hissed, her voice low enough that only I could hear. "The day I landed, he was the one waiting at the airport. We’ve spent every night together since then. We’re already planning a future, Sienna. A real one. With a baby. He doesn't want a family with a girl he was forced to marry."

I shoved her back, my chest heaving. "You're lying," I breathed, trying to keep my voice steady. "He told me he wasn't ready for children. He wouldn't... he wouldn't do that."

But even as the words left my mouth, I remembered the message I saw on his phone. I remembered the way he looked at her photos. The truth was a pill I couldn't bring myself swallow.

"Darling, thank you so much for the invite," Vanessa said loudly, her eyes darting to Xavier before landing back on me with a smirk.

"Invite?" I repeated. I felt the eyes of the guests turning toward us. I was done being the quiet, suffering wife. I was done protecting his secrets while he shredded my heart.

Vivian stepped forward, her face clouded with confusion. "Sienna, you invited this woman?"

Xavier’s gaze cut into me like a knife. It was a silent command. He wanted me to take the fall. He wanted me to lie and say I had welcomed his mistress into our family gala just to save his reputation.

For three years, I had followed his lead. I had been the "good wife" who stayed silent while he treated me like trash. But tonight, the thread finally snapped.

I looked Xavier dead in the eye, my chin tilting up. "I haven't spoken to Vanessa in years," I said, my voice clear and ringing through the sudden silence of the hall. "I have no idea how she even got past the front door."

A wave of shocked whispers erupted around us. Vanessa’s face went pale, her mouth falling open. She hadn't expected me to bite back.

Xavier stiffened, his jaw clenching so hard I thought it might break. The air between us was thick with his rage, but for the first time, I didn't care.

Vivian slammed her hand down on a nearby table, making the champagne glasses rattle. She wasn't just Xavier’s mother; she was the matriarch of the Laurent empire, and she didn't tolerate disrespect. She had been the one to send Vanessa away years ago, and seeing her back was an insult.

"Then what are you doing here, Vanessa?" Vivian shouted, her voice cutting through the room. "Who gave you permission to step foot in this house?"

"I... I was invited," Vanessa stammered, her confidence crumbling. Her eyes flicked desperately to Xavier, pleading for him to step in.

"By who?" Vivian stepped closer, her expression one of pure disgust. "Not by me. Certainly not by Sienna. Get out. Get out right now before I have security drag you out into the street."

Vanessa looked around, seeing the judgment and mockery on every face in the room. She looked at Xavier one last time, waiting for him to save her.

But he didn't. He stood there like a statue, his eyes fixed on the floor.

Vanessa turned and fled, her heels clicking rapidly against the marble as she rushed out of the hall.

I let out a long, shaky breath, thinking the nightmare was over. I thought maybe, just maybe, him staying silent meant he had chosen me.

But then I looked at him.

Xavier wasn't looking at me with regret or apology. He looked at me with pure, burning hatred. Without a single word to his mother or his guests, he shoved his chair aside with a deafening scrape and stormed out after her.

"Xavier!" Vivian yelled, but he didn't stop.

He didn't hesitate. He didn't look back. He chose her. He chose her in front of his family, in front of the world, and in front of the wife who had spent three years bleeding for him.

A sob broke through my throat as I stood there in my red dress,the dress he supposedly liked. I realized then that I wasn't just a fool. I was a ghost chasing a man who had never even been there.

The divorce wasn't just coming. It was already over. I knew right then and there we had been separate since the day we got married, it just took me three years to realize it. The papers were just a formality and I was tired of holding on to a marriage that already failed.

Chapter 4: Time to Be Me Again

Sienna’s POV

It was twenty minutes past midnight, and the house was screaming with silence.

Xavier still wasn't home.

After he had chased Vanessa out of the gala, the atmosphere at the dinner table had become toxic. His mother had tried to force a smile, her face tight with a humiliation she couldn't hide.

His brothers had looked away every time I caught their eyes, and the guests... the guests whispered. I could feel their pity sticking to my skin. I couldn't breathe in that room anymore. I had excused myself, blaming a sudden migraine, though we all knew it was my heart that was failing, not my head.

Now, I was back in our massive, empty mansion, twisting the cool diamond band on my finger until the skin underneath turned red. I was still waiting for him. Even after everything, after the cold words and the divorce papers, a pathetic, desperate part of me was still holding a candle in the wind.

I had loved Xavier since I was a teenager. I had spent three years of marriage trying to prove I was worth more than the shares my grandmother owned. I didn't want to let a girl like Vanessa,a woman who only saw him as a trophy, steal the life I had bled to build.

When the clock struck one, the silence became unbearable. I stood up and started pacing the length of the living room, my heels clicking against the cold marble. My phone was in my hand, the screen glowing. I wanted to call him. I wanted to hear his voice, even if he was yelling at me.

"He's never stayed out all night," I whispered to the empty room. "Maybe something happened. Maybe he’s hurt."

I was making excuses for him again. I was building a bridge for a man who was busy burning the forest on the other side.

Just as I raised the phone to dial, headlights came through the dark curtains, sweeping across the walls like searchlights.

My heart did a leap. I ran to the door like a lost puppy finally hearing its master’s footsteps. I reached for the handle just as the door groaned open.

Xavier stumbled inside.

He smelled like a distillery. His expensive suit was wrinkled, his tie was gone, and the top buttons of his shirt were ripped open. He looked like a man who had spent the last four hours trying to drown himself in a bottle of whiskey.

"You're drunk," I said, stepping forward to catch him before he hit the floor.

"Not... not really," he slurred, letting out a hollow laugh. He kicked his shoes off, nearly tripping over the rug.

I swallowed the bitter taste of anger. I knew why he was like this. He was mourning the fact that his mother had kicked his mistress out. He was probably upset because Vanessa had played the victim, crying in his arms about how mean I had been.

I pushed the jealousy aside. Right now, he was here. He was home.

I slid my arm under his, guiding him toward the stairs. For a fleeting, foolish second, I leaned into him. I missed the smell of his skin, even through the scent of alcohol.

"I can walk, Sienna," he grumbled, but he didn't push me away. He actually leaned into me, his head resting briefly against my shoulder.

"Sure you can," I muttered, my heart aching at the small contact.

We made it to the bedroom, and I eased him down onto the silk sheets. I knelt on the floor to pull off his socks, then stood over him to loosen his collar. Suddenly, his hand shot out, grabbing my wrist. He pulled me down toward his chest with a strength that caught me off guard.

I gasped, my hands landing on his shoulders.

His eyes were open now, and they weren't cold. They were soft, hazy, and filled with a look I hadn't seen in years.

"God, you're so pretty," he murmured, his voice thick and rough.

My chest tightened so hard I couldn't breathe. I wanted to be happy. I wanted to scream with joy that he was finally looking at me. But the divorce papers were still sitting in his suitcase. Vanessa was still waiting for him in a hotel room. What was the point of a compliment if it was fueled by whiskey?

"How I love you..." he whispered, his fingers reaching up to stroke a strand of hair behind my ear.

He looked at me in a way that sent a thousand butterflies through my stomach, fluttering against the walls of my ribs.

"Xavier..." .

Before I could say anything else, he pulled my head down. His lips crashed against mine with a hunger that was terrifying and beautiful all at once. I stiffened for a heartbeat, my mind screaming at me to run, to protect myself.

But the deep, starving part of me won. I fell into him.

I clutched his shirt, my fingers tangling in the fabric as he kissed me deeper, his breath hot and smelling of spirits. All the walls I had built over the last week crumbled. Every rejection, every insult, every cold night, it all faded into the background.

I just wanted to be his.

He rolled over, his weight pressing me into the mattress. I didn't think. I didn't question. I just gave in to the heat.

The night blurred into a hazy dream. The clothes we wore were cast aside, scattered across the floor like the ruins of our old life. His touch was needy and rough, as if he were trying to pull the soul out of me. For those hours, I allowed myself to believe. I believed that the man who wanted a divorce had changed his mind. I believed that this was the beginning of our real life.

I held him tight, my eyes closed, refusing to let the reality of the morning in.

But then, the dream turned into a nightmare.

Xavier moved closer to my ear, his voice a low, gravelly moan that should have been for me.

"Nessa..."

The name hit me like a bucket of ice water. The blood drained from my face, and my heart felt like it had been physically torn in half.

Nessa.

I knew that name. It was the nickname he had for Vanessa. He wasn't with me. In his mind, he was with her. He was holding me, but he was loving her.

"I love you so much, nessa," he groaned, his voice filled with a passion he had never shown me.

I went cold. I pulled away from him, my hands shaking so hard I could barely move. He mumbled something in his sleep, reaching out for a body that was no longer there, but I was already out of the bed.

I scrambled for my clothes, pulling them on with trembling fingers. I felt dirty. I felt used. I felt like a substitute in my own marriage.

I ran into the bathroom and locked the door, leaning against the cold tiles I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was a mess, my lips were swollen, and my eyes were red with a pain I couldn't even put into words

.

I was broken. Truly, finally broken.

I didn't cry. The tears wouldn't come. I just stared at the woman in the glass and realized she was a stranger. I had spent three years dying for this man, and he didn't even know my name in the dark.

When the sun began to peek through the bathroom window, I knew what I had to do. The decision wasn't even hard. It was the only way to survive.

I walked back into the bedroom. Xavier was sleeping soundly, his chest rising and falling. He looked peaceful. He looked like the man I had loved since I was a girl. I watched him for a long minute, memorizing the curve of his jaw and the way his hair fell over his forehead.

Then, I turned toward the closet.

I pulled out the divorce documents.My hand shook as I picked up the pen, but as I touched the tip to the paper, my grip became steady.

I signed my name. *Sienna Vale.* I felt the ink seal my fate. It was the most honest thing I had done in three years.

Next came the ring. I twisted the diamond band off my finger. I placed it gently on top of the signed papers, right in the center of the desk where he would see it the moment he woke up.

I didn't pack much. Just a single suitcase I had prepared the night before, filled with things that were actually mine, things he hadn't bought.

I walked to the door and took one last look at the room. Then, I stepped out into the hallway and down the stairs.

It was time to finally be Sienna again.

Sienna’s POV 

I stood in the doorway of the Vale Estate with nothing but a small briefcase and a signature that ended my life. I was nothing.

At least for now.

I will get revenge. I will make him beg me. Beg me to stop. Beg me to forgive him.

My grandmother walked out of the door. Poised, calm, confident. Her heels clicked against the floor, her eyes never leaving mine. I expected tears, comfort and…love. And all I got was her icy look with no trace of warmth.

“Good you divorced that boy.” She said when she finally reached me. 

What else was I expecting her to say?

She raised an eyebrow at my silence. “Do you have anything to say?”

I opened my mouth to talk but she cut me off before I could speak. “No use crying over spilled milk. Are you ready to become someone of worth? If you are then you can go inside. If you're not then…” She walked closer to me until she reached my ear. “Go back to where you came from.” She whispered, her hot breath hitting my ear. She stepped back, turned on her heel and walked inside.

I rubbed my arms with my hands trying to soothe the goosebumps that appeared on my skin. I closed my eyes for a few seconds. “I can do this.” I told myself.

It was time for a new me.

I walked into the house with a newfound resolve to see a line of servants, standing on either side of the entrance. They stared at me confused about who I was and whether to bow and attend to me.

Footsteps approached, heels clicking on the floor and my grandmother came into view. “Come, child.” Immediately the servants bowed as I walked past them to my grandmother. I stood in front of her and she circled around me, like I was a piece of meat for sale. Her eyes took in every inch of my body, making the hair on my neck stand.

She didn't ask any question…just assessed me.

I was stunned by the lack of sympathy from my grandmother of all people. Yes…we weren't close but I still expected some sort of emotion from her. It…

It was almost as if she'd been waiting for this moment.

She stepped back after treating me like a museum piece, sighed and shook her head. "A lot of work needs to be done. But for now it's time for breakfast. Come.” She walked away, not sparing me another look.

I walked into the dining hall seeing different plates of food lined up, in buffet style. My grandmother was already sitting at the head of the table, telling the servants which dish she wanted. I sat down at her right side…feeling slightly uncomfortable. I felt like a stranger in my own home.

My grandmother glanced at me before motioning a servant to serve me. But my mind wasn't on the food…it was on the events that had taken place these past few days. And what should be my next plan?

Noticing my silence, my grandmother spoke. “To tell you the truth, I'm planning on retiring and I need a successor. I see that you have potential to lead Vale Corporations to the next level.” She pointed to the air. “To put us on top.”

She dropped her fork and dabbed her mouth with a handkerchief. “I always expected you to end up back here…I just never expected that it would take three years.” She laid emphasis on the three years eyes widening for a moment.

Just then the door opened and Tristan, my cousin, walked in. When he saw me, he quickly put on an expression of fake concern. “Good morning grandmother. I couldn't help but hear that you planned on making Sienna the heritage to Vale corporations…Sienna lacks the experience and…” his eyes swept over my body in disgust. “Loyalty to lead such a prestigious company such as Vale Corporations.”

My grandmother slammed her fist on to the table, her eyes narrowed in anger. “Be quiet, boy!” She shouted enraged. “In your life, never question my judgment again!”

Tristan shrunk back in fear. “I-im sorry grandmother.”

I sighed. I was torn between grief and the pull of finally being valued. But I couldn't help but ponder on Tristan's words. My thoughts were interrupted by my phone vibrating. I pulled out my phone and my blood went cold. Leaked photos of Vanessa and Xavier leaving a hotel was surfacing on the internet. I clenched my fists humiliated, angry and hurt.

From the corner of my eye, I saw grandmother watching me closely, a sort of relief flickering across her face, barely noticeable. Instead of comforting me, she said, “The world will try to make you small…but you get to decide whether or not you allow them.”

My eyes darkened and I looked at her in anger. “I will take over Vale Corporations and rise to the top."