Chapter 77
Nora's POV
The phone wouldn't stop buzzing.
I stared at the screen, watching notification after notification flood in—comments on my Instagram, mentions on Twitter, messages from colleagues I hadn't spoken to in months. All of it saying the same thing in different words: You're finished.
Sterling PR's retraction statement was everywhere. "At the request of our client, Nora Kane, we published unverified information regarding Lena Grant..." They'd thrown me under the bus without hesitation, and the internet was having a field day with it.
But that wasn't what made my hands shake as I scrolled through my feed.
It was Rowan's statement.
"Ms. Grant's exceptional professional capability."
"Her impeccable integrity."
"The most respectable partner throughout our marriage."
Every word felt like a knife sliding between my ribs. I'd spent seven years building a life that would make him look at me the way he used to—accomplished, desirable, worthy of his attention. And in forty-eight hours, he'd dismantled everything I'd worked for.
For her.
My phone buzzed again. Another message from a law school classmate: Is it true? Did you really try to sabotage Lena's reputation?
I hurled the phone across the room. It hit the wall with a satisfying crack, the screen shattering into a spiderweb of fractured glass.
But it wasn't enough.
I swept my arm across the coffee table, sending magazines, a half-empty wine glass, and a crystal vase crashing to the floor. Glass shattered. Red wine spread across the white rug like blood.
Still not enough.
I grabbed the decorative pillows from the sofa and tore at them with both hands, feeling the seams rip, feathers bursting free and floating through the air like snow. My breathing came harsh and ragged, my vision blurring with tears I refused to acknowledge.
"Why?" The word came out as a snarl. "Why is it always her?"
My eyes landed on the framed photograph on the wall—Rowan and me at a law school formal, his arm around my shoulders, both of us laughing at something Colin had said. I'd kept that photo on display for years, a reminder of when things were simple. When he was mine.
I yanked it off the wall and smashed it against the floor. The glass exploded into glittering fragments.
Seven years. I'd been building toward this for seven years, and she'd ruined everything in seven weeks.
The memories came unbidden, sharp and bitter. Every mock trial in law school where Lena Grant took first place and I came in second. Every debate where she demolished her opponents with that infuriating calm precision while I had to fight tooth and nail for recognition. Every awards ceremony where her name was called before mine.
But back then, at least I had Rowan. He never looked at her twice. His eyes were always on me—in the library, at parties, across the seminar room. That was my consolation prize, my proof that being second academically didn't matter because I'd won where it counted.
And then she'd taken that too.
I sank onto the sofa, staring at the destruction around me—broken glass, scattered feathers, wine stains spreading across expensive fabric. My chest heaved with sobs I couldn't control anymore.
How had she done it? How had she gone from invisible to Mrs. Reynolds while I was building my career in Europe? What had she done during those two years of marriage to make him defend her like this?
The sound of a key turning in the lock made me freeze.
"Nora?"
Lucas's voice cut through my spiral. I heard his footsteps stop in the doorway, could imagine his face taking in the wreckage.
"Jesus Christ." He was across the room in seconds, grabbing my wrist as I reached for another vase. "Enough, Nora! This isn't solving anything!"
I tried to wrench free. "Let go of me."
"Not until you calm down." His grip tightened, and then his arms were around me, pulling me against his chest like he used to when we were kids. "Stop. Just stop."
For a moment, I let myself sink into the familiar comfort of his embrace. Lucas had always been there—after Mom and Dad died, through every failure, every disappointment. He was the only constant in a world that kept shifting under my feet.
But tonight, even that wasn't enough.
I shoved him away, hard. "Why?" My voice cracked. "Why does she always win?"
"Nora—"
"Law school. Rowan. And now she's even destroyed my career while somehow coming out looking like a saint!" I was shouting now, tears streaming down my face. "I did everything right! I worked twice as hard as anyone else! And she just... she just exists and everyone loves her!"
"This isn't about Lena," Lucas said quietly. "This is about the choices you made."
"Don't." I pointed a shaking finger at him. "Don't you dare lecture me about choices. You've spent your entire life being nice, playing by the rules, waiting for people to recognize your worth. And where has it gotten us? We're still the Kane siblings that everyone pities—the orphans who lost everything when our parents died."
His jaw tightened. "That's not fair."
"Isn't it?" I laughed, bitter and sharp. "You smile and shake hands with people who look down on us. You apologize when you have nothing to apologize for. You let people like the Blackwoods and the Harringtons treat us like charity cases because you're too afraid to fight back."
"I'm not afraid—"
"Then why are we still struggling?" The words poured out, fueled by years of resentment I'd never voiced. "Why do we have to work twice as hard for half the respect? We don't have parents anymore, Lucas. We only have each other. And your way—your wait for people to be kind approach—it's gotten us nowhere."
I saw the hurt flash across his face, but I couldn't stop.
"Being with Rowan was supposed to change that. It was supposed to give us the security, the status, the protection that we've been missing since we were teenagers. But you don't understand that, do you? You're content to keep playing nice while I'm the one trying to secure our future."
"By destroying someone else?" His voice was quiet but firm. "Nora, the entire city is talking about what you did. The firm is discussing termination. You crossed a line."
"I did what I had to do!"
"No." He shook his head. "You did what your jealousy told you to do. And now you're paying the price."