I couldn’t stop smiling.
Over boiling Hatred And Jealousy.
It wasn’t the smug smile I wore when I walked into rooms dressed to kill, nor was it the polite one I offered the press when they whispered about the other woman, no, this smile was real.
It was warm, wide, and private.
Ronan had said it with his voice low and heavy, the world burning behind his eyes, he’d whispered it like a vow.
“Whatever you wish for… I’ll make it happen.”
It wasn’t a question, It was a promise, and I have waited so goddamn long to hear it.
I stretched across the velvet chaise in my sun-drenched living room, the silk robe slipping slightly off one shoulder. My skin still glowed from the night before, my cheeks flushed, my lips tender. I’d woken in his arms for the first time in a long time with certainty in my chest.
This was it.
He was mine now, truly and finally
After eight long years of being the secret, the scandal, the woman on the side, I was about to become the wife.
I reached for my phone, giddy like a teenager, and dialed the one person who needed to hear it first.
She answered on the second ring. “Seline?”
“Mother,” I breathed, unable to contain my joy. “He said it, Ronan, he promised me everything, anything.”
There was silence on the other end, it was long, measured, and sharp.
I blinked, still smiling. “Did you hear me?”
Her voice sliced through the silence like a blade. “I heard you.”
I waited for her to say something but she didn’t.
“Okay,” I said slowly, sitting up straighter. “Well, aren’t you happy for me? He said once the scandal dies down, finally be his wife, his only one and I know that he meant it.”
“Did he give you a ring?” she asked coolly.
My smile wavered. “No, not yet, but…”
I’ll
0.0%
16:17
“Did he announce it?”
“No, but…”
“Then don’t be stupid.” she flared.
My heart dropped like ice into a warm drink.
“Mother…”
“You sound like a damn fool,” she snapped. “You’re giggling over a whisper, a pillow promise. Men always sound sincere when they’ve just finished using you.”
Her voice wasn’t angry, it was ice, calm, and deadly.
“Until there’s a ring on your finger, until your name is on the announcement list, and until the city’s cameras are pointed at you in a white dress, don’t you dare call that a win.”
I swallowed hard, trying to cling to the warmth I had felt just minutes ago.
“But he was serious,” I said, quieter now. “I’ve never seen him look at me like that before.”
She exhaled slowly, like I was wasting her time. “You’ve seen that look before, Selina. You just didn’t notice it was the same look he gave Zyrah once, too.”
That name stung like a slap.
I hated that she always brought her up, as if that woman’s ghost still lingered, haunting every room I walked into, even though she was long gone.
“I’ve done everything right,” I insisted. “I’ve been patient, and loyal. I stayed when she walked out.”
“Then keep staying,” she said. “Keep being what he needs, cook his meals, stroke his ego. Make him believe you’re the only woman who understands him.”
“I already do all of that.”
“Then don’t stop,” she said. “And don’t start talking about weddings until he brings the ring himself. You push too hard now, and you’ll break the illusion.”
I didn’t answer.
She sighed. “Just keep him close and do not let anyone else, especially that Callisto girl, wherever the hell she is, put a crack in what you’ve built.”
My throat is tight now as the room feels smaller.
“I have to go,” I said, hanging up before I could hear her voice again.
I threw the phone onto the sofa beside me and sat still for a moment.
11.5 %
16:17
་་་་ ་་་་ ་་ ་ ་བ་་་་་
པ་་་་་་་་་
The sunlight didn’t feel as warm anymore and the glow in my chest dimmed.
You’ve seen that look before, Seline.
Had I?
Was he just saying what I wanted to hear?
No, no, Ronan meant it, he had to, after everything I have done, everything I have given to him.
He just had to because if Ronan Lancaster thought he could promise me a crown and walk away once the storm cleared, then he hadn’t learned what kind of woman I’d become in the dark.
Suddenly my phone lit up just as I reached for the glass of wine I never touched.
Ronan.
His name alone sent a thrill down my spine. I didn’t even hesitate, I snatched the phone like it was a lifeline.
“Yes?” I answered, breath catching slightly. “My love…”
His voice came through, but it wasn’t the voice that kissed me last night. It wasn’t the one that promised me the world and pressed me into his chest like I was the only thing tethering him to sanity.
No, this voice was cold, dull, very blunt, and soulless.
“Come to the penthouse tonight.” he let out.
I blinked. “What Ronan, what’s wrong? You sound…”
“I’m not in the mood to explain,” he said, cutting me off.
My body tensed.
“I just, are you okay? Is it… ”
“Don’t fucking start, Seline,” he snapped, each word like a slap. “Just do what I said. I don’t want your questions, I want silence and obedience tonight.”
Silence.
Obedience.
The words hit like ice down my spine as a chill crept through my body despite the warmth in the room.
“Alright.” I whispered, trying to hold the tremble out of my voice. “I’ll be there.”
At once the line went dead as he didn’t wait, or even say goodbye.
I sat there, frozen, still holding the phone to my ear like I hadn’t just been dismissed like a servant.
Slowly, I lowered it.
23.6 %
16:17
The silence in my apartment was sudden
phone down on the glass table, knuckles white.
Something was wrong.
It was not the usual Ronan-is-angry-and-needs-pampering kind of wrong, this was darker, it felt emptier.
2007
I stood and paced across the marble floor, each click of my heel echoing against the silence. My mind spun with pos- sibilities, had something happened at the office?
Was it Zyrah again?
Did someone else betray him?
Or, was it me?
Please, no!
Please don’t let him do this, not now, not after everything.
I was freaking out already.
I sank into the chair by the vanity, staring at my own reflection.
My skin still held the glow of victory, but beneath it cracks.
He had promised me a ring, looked me in the eye and said he’d give me whatever I wished for.
Was it already falling apart?
Did I dream too fast?
I ran my fingers through my hair, then reached for my lipstick with fingers that trembled just slightly.
If I was going to walk into the fire, I’d walk flawlessly, and be controlled.
He wouldn’t see me shake.
He would see the woman who had waited years to be crowned, and wasn’t letting go that easily.
*
The sky was a velvet bruise when I drove across the city to Ronan’s penthouse in silence and very anxious, my hands gripping the steering wheel tighter than necessary. My heart had been hammering since the phone call since the cold- ness in Ronan’s voice stripped every ounce of sweetness from my day.
I told myself to breathe, that it was just stress, and that he needed me, only me.
But deep down, something inside me clawed at my chest like it already knew the truth, this wasn’t just another one of his bad moods.
This was something else.
35.0 %
16:18
Over boiling Hatred And Jealousy.
Something worse.
By the time I arrived at the penthouse, my nerves were fraying like torn lace. I stepped out of the car slowly, legs tight, heart dragging like a stone in my chest.
The elevator ride felt eternal.
I smoothed my dress, fixed my lipstick in the mirrored panel as I straightened my spine.
When the doors slid open, the silence hit me first, there was no single noise.
“Ronan.” I muttered as I gently closed the door, my eyes lurking around for any sight of him or his maids.
I stepped into the sitting room and at once, I saw him.
Ronan was on the couch, still dressed in his black suit from the office, but it looked like it had survived a storm. The jacket hung off one shoulder as his tie was undone, hanging like a noose. His shirt was half-unbuttoned, wrinkled, stained with something I hoped was wine. His hair was a tousled mess, his eyes red-rimmed with exhaustion or rage, I couldn’t tell which.
A glass of dark wine sat in his hand as a bottle was empty on the table.
“Ronan?” I said softly, cautiously.
He didn’t answer, neither did he didn’t even look at me.
Something inside me chilled.
“Baby, what’s going on? What happened?”
Suddenly, the wine glass exploded against the wall beside him, shattering into a thousand blood-colored shards.
I jumped, a scream catching in my throat.
“Ronan!” I gasped, my heart lurching into my ribs. “What the hell was that?!”
He stood slowly, like a man dragging himself out of a grave.
“Don’t talk,” he growled.
His voice was low and cold.
“Ronan, you’re scaring me…
“1
“Just shut the fuck up, Seline!”
I recoiled, his tone cracked through the air like a whip.
“What did I do?” I whispered, the blood draining from my face. “If I did something wrong…
“You didn’t,” he spat, pacing now. “But she did.”
46.6 %
16:17
My eyes narrowed in a frown.
“She?”
He turned toward me, eyes wild.
“Zyrah.”
The name landed in my stomach like a stone.
I swallowed. “What about her?”
“She’s not who we thought she was,” he hissed. “She’s not just some scorned ex-wife or weak little housewife hiding behind pretty manners.”
He moved like a man unraveling.
“She’s the CEO of the Aeternum empire.”
The words didn’t register.
I blinked, then blinked again as I chuckled thinking it’s all a joke.
“I’m sorry… what?”
“She’s Zyrah Callisto Aeternum,” he said through clenched teeth. “The daughter of Caelan Aeternum, the rightful heir. The woman behind the company that stole Calloway’s deal, that’s bleeding our investors dry. She’s the one pulling the strings.”
I couldn’t breathe.
I staggered back a step, the world spinning around me.
“No. No, that’s not… ” I shook my head. “That can’t be true.”
Ronan stared at me but his silence confirmed it.
My heart was racing in disbelief as I laid my hand on my chest, my head began to spin.
“But how? How is this possible?”
I pressed a hand to my stomach as nausea rose in my throat.
That bitch.
That lying, conniving, manipulative…
“She played us,” Ronan said bitterly. “She knew everything, all my accounts, and my deals. Every crack in the walls, and now she’s tearing them down.”
I grabbed the edge of the bar counter to steady myself, my knees felt like they’d vanish beneath me.
58.3 %
16:18
Over boiling Hatred And Jealousy.
“You told her everything,” I said, voice trembling. “All those nights you said you were protecting me, God, Ronan, she was inside your head, inside our fucking home.”
“She used me,” he snapped.
“And you let her!” I fired back, rage now cutting through the shock. “You married her, you made her befriend me knowing how much she hates me.”
Ronan didn’t speak.
He just stared into the distance like everything he built was burning in front of him.
But all I could feel was heat bubbling under my skin.
Zyrah had fooled everyone.
Everyone.
I always thought she was soft, stupid, a little bird with pretty hair and trembling hands. I pitied her and mocked her.
But she wasn’t weak, she was patient, waiting, and now I could see it.
Every polite smile, every time she bit her tongue. Every time I walked past her like she was nothing.
She remembered it all, and she’s not just back.
She’s rising.
I clenched my jaw, my hands curling into fists.
Jealousy held me to my gut.
She is an heiress?
Far greater than I would ever be?
A woman with sophisticated features?
The name rang in my ears like a slow-building bomb.
Zyrah Callisto Aeternum.
That wasn’t a name, that was a weapon, a f**king empire disguised in silk and silence.
I watched Ronan pace like a man possessed, one hand dragging through his hair, the other clenched into a fist so tight
I thought he might break a bone. His suit was wrinkled, his collar crooked, sweat beading at his temple. The look in his eyes was not guilt or heartbreak, he was panicking and I didn’t like it at all.
“She played me,” he growled, pacing faster now. “That little bitch, she f**the king played me from the start by not telling me who she really is.”
67.5%
16:18
He grabbed the wine bottle and poured another glass, sloshing it over the rim, not caring that it spilled across the ta-
ble.
“I thought she was some low-class woman with big eyes and a sob story,” he spat. “Turns out she’s the goddamn heir to the Aeternum dynasty, Zyrah Callisto f**king Aeternum.”
I didn’t say a word yet.
I couldn’t.
My heart was hammering as my lungs were tight, my mind spun.
“She stayed in my house,” Ronan continued, voice rising with every word. “She cried in my arms, cooked my meals, and cleaned blood off her lip after I backhanded her, and she still kissed me goodnight.”
He downed the wine and smashed the glass on the floor without hesitation.
“And the whole time she was plotting because I don’t believe she would stoop so low to be really in love with a man lower than her in class.”
I flinched, but he didn’t stop.
“I called her stupid, worthless. I told her no one else would love her. I f**the king cheated on her in the same bed we got married in, and she just sat there like a broken doll.”
I swallowed hard, as my mouth was dry.
“And now?” His voice was a snarl. “Now she’s the one pulling strings. My investors are walking, my board’s going quiet. That bitch is cutting through my company like a scalpel.”
I watched him unravel, piece by jagged piece.
I had seen Ronan angry before, but this was fear.
Raw, red, humiliating fear.
“You told me she was pathetic,” I said slowly. “You said she was nothing.”
“I thought she was!” he exploded, turning on me. “I thought she was weak, I made her beg for my attention, I made her smile at you while you wore my shirt in her kitchen.”
I blinked rapidly, blood roaring in my ears.
“But she was watching,” he continued, seething. “She let me humiliate her, and now she’s using everything I ever gave her to destroy me.”
He dropped onto the couch, breathing like he’d just run through fire.
“She knows every weak spot, every deal and every man I trust, and now they’re hers.”
78.8 %
16:18
Over boiling Hatred And Jealousy.
288 Vouchers
I stepped forward slowly, my heels echoing across the tension-stained floor. My voice, when it came, was low and careful.
“She won’t win.”
He didn’t look at me.
“She won’t take what’s yours,” I said, kneeling in front of him, forcing him to see me. “We’re going to destroy her be- fore she gets close enough to land the final blow.”
His jaw was locked tight as he said nothing.
“You still have your company, your reputation, and your name, Ronan. You still have me.” I said the last part softer, bitterly.
He blinked.
“Let her think she’s ahead,” I whispered. “Let her gloat and believe she’s already won.”
I leaned in closer.
“Then we take it all back.”
He exhaled, but didn’t speak.
I knew why because for the first time in his life, Ronan Lancaster was afraid of a woman who never once raised her voice to him.
A woman he thought he broke, and now, she’s about to bury him.
My nails dug into my palm as the hatred I have for her tripled.
The hatred was now severe not just for her return, or her name, or her empire but for the simple, devastating truth that Ronan fears her more than he ever loved me.
But I wouldn’t cry,I wouldn’t crumble.
I’d wear the ring and I would walk the aisle, and I’d make sure Zyrah Callisto Aeternum never smiled again.
91.7 %
16:18
