Chapter 153 DECADES LONG AFFAIR

Chapter 153 DECADES LONG AFFAIR
The presidential suite of the five-star hotel was silent except for the constant buzzing of phones that neither occupant bothered to answer.

Victoria Thorne stood by the floor-to-ceiling window with a crystal glass of red wine in her hand. The city sprawled beneath her, glittering as though nothing had changed.

Everything had changed. Her publicist had called fourteen times, her lawyer had called nine, three charity boards had suspended her, sponsors were withdrawing, every news channel had replayed the same headlines for days.

THORNE FAMILY MATRIARCH ACCUSED OF DECADES-LONG AFFAIR.

MR. DEVON FACES BILLION-DOLLAR DIVORCE.

WHO IS MATTEO'S FATHER?

The room smelled of expensive perfume and anxiety.

Behind her, Richard Devon sat in an armchair with divorce papers spread across the coffee table. His tie hung loose, his eyes were bloodshot, his phone vibrated again and again with his lawyer's call.

"Lovia." He murmured and picked up his phone to call his daughter even though she hasn't been answering his calls lately.

He dialed the number and watched as it rang until she hung up. Again.
He stared at the screen for a long moment before setting the phone down.

Victoria finally broke the silence. "So?"

Richard looked up. "So what?"

"So what are you going to do about this?"

He frowned. "About what?"

She spun around sharply. "Don't play stupid with me, Richard." She walked toward him. "Our lives are burning down around us. My reputation is ruined, your wife wants everything, our son is being mocked, and Julian is winning. You need to fix this."

Richard laughed. It wasn't amused, it was exhausted.

"Fix it?"

"Yes." She pointed a finger at him. "You always find solutions. You always clean up your messes. So clean this one too."

Richard slowly stood up. "My mess?"

Victoria stared at him. "Don't tell me you're planning to give up. I'm telling you to be a man. Think. Come up with something. Anything. We need the public back on our side, we have to get out of this. This is all your fault, this wouldn't have happened if you had—"

Richard looked at her for several long seconds… then something inside him finally snapped.

"My fault?" His voice rose. "My fault?" He laughed again. "You think I'm in bliss about all this? Lovia won't even answer my calls anymore. My daughter looks at me like I'm a stranger. My wife..." His voice faltered. "...my wife spent thirty years loving me while I spent thirty years lying to her."

Victoria folded her arms. "So?"

Richard stared at her. "So?" He took a step toward her. "You really asked me that?"

Victoria scoffed. "Oh, don't start pretending to grow a conscience now."

Richard's jaw tightened.

"You know what your problem is?" Victoria continued, "you always make everything about Lovia. What about our son? What about Matteo?"

Richard let out a bitter laugh. "Matteo? Matteo is useless."

Victoria's face darkened. "Watch your mouth."

"No." His voice hardened. "You listen. Matteo is so useless he couldn't even keep the company alive when it was handed to him. He bankrupted businesses that Julian rebuilt into empires. And even if we somehow managed to destroy Julian tomorrow, Matteo still wouldn't be the ideal successor." He shook his head. "He'd run it into the ground. Again."

Victoria's hand curled around her wine glass. "You heartless—"

"No." Richard cut her off. "The heartless one is you. How big was your hatred for your husband that you couldn't let it die with him? You buried Edward Thorne, but you couldn't bury your hatred for him. You carried it, you nurtured it, and then you poured every drop of it onto Julian. You've been so blinded by hatred that you can't even see what a remarkable man he's become. He took the same company Matteo nearly destroyed… and turned it into something greater than it had ever been. He built it. He expanded it. He protected it. He's respected. Admired. And not once..."

Richard's voice cracked.

"...not once did you allow yourself to be proud of him."

Victoria's expression twisted. "Spare me the lecture. If you had left your pathetic wife when I asked you to..." She stepped closer until they were nearly chest to chest. "...none of this would be happening."

The wine glass flew from her hand, and smashed against Richard's shoulder before exploding across the marble floor.

Red wine splattered across his white shirt like blood.

Neither of them moved.

Richard looked down at the stain, then back at her, and for the first time in decades… He didn't see the woman he loved. He only saw the woman who had destroyed everything.

His voice became frighteningly calm.

"See? This..." He gestured between them. "...has never been worth leaving my family for."

Victoria's expression flickered. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out.

"My love for you has always been blind to your viciousness… your vile nature… because you were always the victim. You left me to be another man's wife, and only came back after you're pregnant for him. I didn't want to let you in… but you knew how to cry so good. You cried about how you were forced. You told me how much you wanted to tear the baby out of you, you hated Julian even before you saw his face. But I didn't care about the child in you. I cared more about you. I cared so much that I let you in even though I have a wife. I loved you. Not her. But you never loved me back."

He swallowed hard.

"You don't love anyone. Not even your dear Matteo. You don't love Matteo because he's your son, you love him because you think he's the key to access my fortune the way Julian was the key you used to access Thorne's fortune. That's all people have ever been to you. Keys. Opportunities. Stepping stones. You're so vile… but I loved you so much… I let you ruin my life."

Silence fell over the suite. Victoria's breathing was ragged, and Richard looked decades older than he had that morning.
Then applause erupted from the television mounted on the wall. Both of them turned instinctively, the muted television had switched to a live business broadcast.

Julian Thorne stood onstage in front of hundreds of employees.
Behind him, a massive screen displayed the company's newest product launch.

The crowd rose to its feet, and thunderous applause filled the room as the anchor spoke.

"...following today's launch, Thorne Group shares have surged again. Analysts report the company's market value has doubled within the last two weeks despite the ongoing family scandal. Investors are calling it one of the strongest recoveries in recent corporate history..."

The camera zoomed in on Julian. He stood to his full height, calm and confident.

Richard stared at the screen for a long time before speaking.

"Look at him." His voice was barely above a whisper. "If he were my son..."

He shook his head slowly.

"...my pride would know no bounds."

Beside him, Victoria said nothing. She only stared at Julian's face, and hated him more than ever.