Chapter 9

Eugene bowed his head, his face heavy with anguish. “I’m sorry, Victoria. I was insane. I still can’t believe what I did.”

“I don’t know what came over me…”

His head snapped up, a desperate light in his eyes. “It was all Claire’s doing. She manipulated me… I lost my mind because of her schemes.”

“I’ve brought her here; she’s yours to deal with. The finest surgeons in Boston are waiting, and they're already paid.”

“I’ll help you reclaim it all. Just give me one chance to…”

As his hand reached for me, I stepped back, a bitter smile twisting my lips. “Eugene Thorne,” his name fell from my lips like ice, “seven years together, and I’m only now understanding your true character. How perfectly blind I was.”

“You blame everything on Claire, but tell me, if you hadn’t fallen in love with her, would you have married me? The tragedy, Eugene, is you’re the true villain. Without Claire, there would have been someone else.”

Shame colored his features as the truth he’d been denying crashed over him. He’d always treated me like a plaything while refusing to acknowledge he lost me because of her.

Eugene Thorne—the man who’d never bowed to anyone—slowly sank to his knees. His bloodshot eyes brimmed with desperation as he looked up at me.

“Victoria, what will it take for your forgiveness? Claire is nothing now, and we’re done. You’re the only woman I’ve ever truly loved.” The mighty CEO of Thorne Industries, kneeling on cold hospital tiles like a fallen king begging for mercy, whispered, “Please,” his voice cracked. “One more chance. That’s all I ask.”

I pulled the diamond ring from my finger and hurled it at him, my voice arctic. “If Dempsey hadn’t found me, I’d be nothing but a cold corpse by now. You owe me a life, Eugene. But I don’t want it anymore—it’s too soiled. Stay out of my sight forever.”

As I turned to leave, Eugene lunged forward, desperate fingers clutching at my skirt. “Victoria! Everyone makes mistakes. Take my life if you must, but please let me stay with you. I don’t need to be your husband. Just let me remain near you, see your smile. That’s all I’m begging for.”

I yanked the dress from his grasp, turning just enough to let him see the disgust in my eyes—disgust, but no hate. “Eugene Thorne, you sicken me.”

Outside, Dempsey draped his coat over my shoulders, his brow furrowed. “Why merely bankrupt him? Why not let us handle this… permanently? After what he did to you…”

A cold smile curved my lips. “Dempsey, why soil Montgomery hands with trash?”

Dempsey understood perfectly.

Within hours, the story broke—Eugene’s affair with Claire, complete with evidence of her work in various gentlemen’s clubs. Social media erupted in a feeding frenzy. “Imagine abandoning a Montgomery heiress for a club girl!” “Men think with their dicks, even CEOs.”

Thorne Industries’ stock plummeted. No company dared partner with them after incurring Montgomery enmity. Within three days, bankruptcy was announced.

The paparazzi photos showed Eugene unshaven, hollow-eyed, aged a decade in mere days.

At a seedy bar across town, I found Claire in a back room that reeked of desperation and cheap vodka. She lay crumpled on the floor like discarded tissue paper, bruises blooming across her exposed skin. Her eyes flickered open at my presence, hatred giving them a momentary spark of life.

“Victoria…” she rasped. “You orchestrated this… destroyed everything… I’ll kill you!”