Chapter 1 - THE BREAKFAST TABLE
"THE BILLIONAIRE CAME HOME TO FIND HIS WIFE SERVING HIS EX-GIRLFRIEND BREAKFAST—THEN THE LITTLE GIRL WHISPERED, “DADDY, THEY MADE MOMMY CRY.”
“POUR MY COFFEE, YOU USELESS LITTLE WIFE!” THE BILLIONAIRE'S EX-GIRLFRIEND ORDERED, WHILE HIS OWN MOTHER LAUGHED. HIS WIFE STOOD BESIDE THE BREAKFAST TABLE IN A SERVANT'S APRON, HER EYES RED FROM CRYING. BUT WHEN THE BILLIONAIRE RETURNED HOME UNEXPECTEDLY, HIS SIX-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER EXPOSED WHAT HAD BEEN HAPPENING BEHIND HIS BACK—AND ONE TERRIFYING SECRET ABOUT THE EX-GIRLFRIEND'S PLAN TO DESTROY HIS MARRIAGE.
“MORE COFFEE, EMILY!”
Victoria Hayes tapped her empty cup with a silver spoon.
Emily Whitmore stood beside the breakfast table, wearing a plain white apron over her blue dress.
Her hands trembled as she lifted the coffee pot.
Across from Victoria sat Margaret Whitmore, the billionaire's mother.
“Careful,” Margaret warned. “That china costs more than your entire wardrobe.”
Victoria laughed.
Emily quietly filled her cup.
“Anything else?”
Victoria leaned back.
“Actually, yes. Bring me the strawberry pancakes. And don't forget the whipped cream.”
Six-year-old Lily Whitmore watched from the end of the table.
“Grandma, why is Mommy serving everybody?”
Margaret frowned.
“Because your mother needs to learn her place.”
Lily's eyes filled with tears.
“But Mommy isn't a maid.”
Victoria smiled cruelly.
“Your daddy should have married someone better.”
Emily immediately approached her daughter.
“Sweetheart, eat your breakfast.”
Margaret slammed her hand on the table.
“GET BACK TO WORK!”
Emily flinched.
Victoria deliberately knocked her coffee cup sideways.
Hot coffee spilled across the tablecloth.
“Oh, look what you did!”
Emily stared.
“I didn't touch it!”
Margaret stood.
“DON'T ARGUE WITH OUR GUEST!”
Emily reached for a napkin.
Victoria leaned close enough to whisper:
“Daniel loved me before he ever met you. He'll love me again.”
Emily froze.
Victoria smiled.
“And when he does, you and that little girl will be out of this house.”
A deep voice thundered from the doorway.
“SAY THAT AGAIN.”
Everyone turned.
Daniel Whitmore stood at the entrance.
Thirty-nine years old, tall and broad-shouldered, he wore a charcoal business suit.
His flight from London had arrived six hours early.
He had come home hoping to surprise his wife.
Instead, he found her serving breakfast to the woman he'd broken up with seven years earlier.
His expression turned murderous.
“Emily.”
She slowly looked up.
“Daniel?”
He crossed the room.
“Why are you wearing that apron?”
Margaret immediately stood.
“Son! You're home early!”
Daniel ignored her.
He looked at Victoria.
Then at the spilled coffee.
Then at his wife's tearful face.
“WHY IS MY WIFE SERVING MY EX-GIRLFRIEND?”
Victoria forced a smile.
“Daniel, darling! Your mother invited me to stay!”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“Stay?”
Margaret nodded.
“Victoria has been our guest all week.”
Daniel stared at her.
“YOU MOVED MY EX-GIRLFRIEND INTO MY HOUSE WHILE I WAS AWAY?”
Margaret folded her arms.
“She's practically family!”
Daniel slammed his briefcase onto the table.
“MY WIFE IS FAMILY!”
The silverware rattled.
Lily burst into tears.
“Daddy!”
Daniel immediately knelt.
“Princess?”
She ran into his arms.
He held her tightly.
“What's wrong, sweetheart?”
Lily pointed at Emily.
“DADDY, THEY MADE MOMMY CRY.”
Daniel slowly raised his head.
His wife was wiping tears from her cheeks.
Something inside him snapped.
He stood, took off his jacket, and wrapped it around Emily's shoulders.
Then he removed the apron.
He dropped it onto Victoria's breakfast plate.
“YOU WANT BREAKFAST SERVED? SERVE YOURSELF.”
Victoria gasped.
“Daniel!”
He turned toward his mother.
“AND YOU. DON'T YOU EVER SPEAK TO MY WIFE LIKE SHE'S YOUR SERVANT AGAIN!”
Margaret's face reddened.
“How dare you speak to your mother that way!”
Daniel stepped closer.
“How dare you humiliate the woman I married?”
“I was teaching her manners!”
“YOU WERE ABUSING MY TRUST!”
Emily gently touched his arm.
“Daniel, please. Lily's frightened.”
He immediately softened.
He kissed his daughter's forehead.
“I'm sorry, princess.”
Then he took Emily's hand.
“We're leaving this table.”
Margaret blocked his path.
“You're overreacting!”
Daniel stopped.
“No. I've been far too patient.”
He turned toward the house manager standing near the doorway.
“Robert.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Remove Victoria's guest privileges. Her luggage leaves today.”
Victoria shot to her feet.
“YOU CAN'T THROW ME OUT!”
Daniel stared at her.
“Watch me.”
Margaret gasped.
“If Victoria leaves, I leave!”
Daniel didn't hesitate.
“THEN PACK TWO SUITCASES.”
Silence.
Margaret looked as though he'd slapped her.
“You would choose that girl over your own mother?”
Daniel pulled Emily closer.
“I CHOSE MY WIFE THE DAY I MARRIED HER. YOU JUST REFUSED TO ACCEPT IT.”
Victoria's smile vanished.
She reached into her handbag.
“Daniel, before you make a terrible mistake, there's something you should see.”
She held up her phone.
On the screen was a photograph of Emily entering a downtown hotel beside an unfamiliar man.
Margaret gasped dramatically.
“There! I told you she was hiding something!”
Emily went pale.
“That's my brother!”
Victoria laughed.
“Really? Then why did you book a hotel room?”
Daniel looked at the photograph.
Then at Victoria.
“Where did you get this?”
She hesitated.
“A friend.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“Interesting. Because that hotel belongs to my company.”
Victoria froze.
“And the man beside Emily is her brother, Michael. He was meeting our family attorney about a property inheritance.”
Margaret's mouth fell open.
Daniel stepped forward.
“YOU HAD MY WIFE FOLLOWED?”
Victoria backed away.
“I was protecting you!”
“No. You were manufacturing evidence.”
He looked toward Robert.
“Preserve the security footage. And have legal review every photograph she's collected.”
Victoria's hands began shaking.
Daniel continued.
“IF YOU'VE BEEN STALKING MY WIFE OR FABRICATING ACCUSATIONS, YOU'LL ANSWER FOR IT.”
Margaret grabbed his arm.
“Daniel, please!”
He pulled away.
“You helped her.”
Margaret lowered her eyes.
Daniel turned toward Emily.
“Has anything else happened?”
She hesitated.
Lily suddenly tugged his sleeve.
“Daddy?”
He knelt again.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
The little girl glanced nervously at Victoria.
“She's been going into your bedroom.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
Victoria's face drained of color.
“Lily, don't tell stories!”
Daniel stood.
“DON'T YOU DARE SILENCE MY DAUGHTER!”
Lily began trembling.
Emily held her close.
Daniel looked at the little girl.
“Princess, tell Daddy exactly what you saw.”
Lily swallowed.
“Grandma said Victoria was going to be my new mommy.”
Emily covered her mouth.
Daniel's expression turned ice-cold.
Then Lily whispered something else.
“Daddy… she took pictures in your room.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
“What pictures?”
Lily pointed toward Victoria.
“She wore Mommy's nightgown.”
Victoria staggered backward.
Daniel stared at her.
And suddenly he understood the hotel photograph.
The accusations.
The attempt to drive Emily away.
Someone had been preparing evidence of an affair that had never happened.
His voice shook with fury.
“VICTORIA… WHAT WERE YOU PLANNING TO SEND MY WIFE?”
Victoria couldn't answer.
Lily pulled on his sleeve one final time.
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“DADDY… VICTORIA SLEPT IN YOUR BEDROOM EVERY NIGHT YOU WERE GONE.”
Daniel slowly turned toward his ex-girlfriend.
His hands clenched into fists.
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And for the first time, Victoria realized her carefully planned trap might be closing around her instead.
Read Chapter 2 in the first comment to discover the vicious scheme Victoria and Margaret prepared to destroy Emily's marriage—and what Daniel finds hidden inside his own bedroom.
