Chapter 16 Chapter 16

Chapter 16 Chapter 16
One Month Later

Anna POV

Only myself and Dylan—no brother or father, just me and the man who claimed to love me.

I paced the room back and forth, my mind racing. A lawsuit had been filed against Lewis.

"You acted exactly like the female alpha you should be."

I smiled at Dylan's words, even though they didn't penetrate my heart in any meaningful way.

I cringed at the memory of my first time. Different thoughts raced through my mind, each one dragging me lower in every way humanly possible. The memories made me suffer, made me shed tears, made me love him wrongly even though I'd forced myself to.

As the thought of losing my virginity came to mind, memories of our past came crashing down at the same time. The day he took me out on our first date, the way every single thing happened—it had felt like a scripted movie. But now it was becoming unreal. I'd thought love was real in his arms, but it had been the exact opposite. A cheat. A lie. Everything opposite of what I'd believed.

I had made him who he was today. I'd given him the pharmaceutical formulas that now bore his name. I'd literally stood by him to build him up, but he'd turned his back on me.

Almost every morning when I woke up, I saw a text on my phone claiming Dylan had an ex-wife. But Dylan kept denying it, insisting he'd never had an ex-wife and had never cheated on another woman apart from me. He admitted to past relationships, which were normal for someone of his age and status. But now, sitting here with him, I barely found love—only peace and comfort. At this stage of my life, I'd come to believe that love was just an old, scripted story. It wasn't true. But I needed to play along with his game to gain his favor and keep him on my side.

I couldn't stand the fact that I was looking at Dylan, eyeball to eyeball, and I couldn't control the smile that played across my face despite my conflicted mood. I stood up and walked back to my room, lost in my thoughts. I picked up my phone and dialed his mistress's number. She answered on the first ring.

"Hello, Sandra."

I smiled as I spoke, though she couldn't see it. She replied immediately with false sweetness, but everything about her was a lie. Her voice, her personality—all lies. She didn't realize that the shadow she cast revealed her true self, lying to get what she wanted. I'd known her motives from the very start, ever since I'd first met my husband's secretary. I'd known her plans all along, but I just couldn't prove it until the day he finally brought her home.

"You can't defend yourself, you husband-snatcher," I said, my voice stern and serious.

But she didn't care about my feelings, and I certainly didn't care about hers, because she was a liar. She was the kind of woman who gained love and satisfaction from another woman's pain. I wasn't going to show my feelings to her—not in this lifetime, not ever. But I would make her pay for every single pain she'd caused me, directly or indirectly.

"Why did you call me?" she asked.

I gave a little chuckle, which I was sure she heard clearly. It was a mocking sound, meant to taunt her because she'd come for his money but was now getting nothing in return. I was definitely going to make him even poorer than he already was. It was a goal I intended to fulfill.

His reputation and industrial organization were crumbling. The lawsuit had been served properly. All his businesses were hanging by a thread—at a very low edge. The balance of power had shifted: seventy percent for myself and my family, thirty percent for him. My brothers and father were among the most powerful people in the entire city. Him trying to act clever now was only making things worse for himself.

"I'm just calling to inform you to sleep with one eye open, because I don't give threatening words without fulfilling them."

She laughed. And of course, I could hear the sound of my ex-husband also laughing at my words. They clearly thought I was powerless. Everyone except Lewis—he knew I wasn't poor, and he knew exactly what I was capable of. I couldn't understand why he'd started favoring his mistress over his wife, even though he knew me far better.

"You definitely don't scare me. This lawsuit you sent won't make me crumble at your feet. Definitely not. I have backup—people far bigger than your father and all five of your brothers."

He finally spoke, breaking the tension that had been building within me. I'd needed him to speak as soon as possible because this call was already being recorded. Even hearing his voice at this moment made me more alert, waking my fighting spirit and releasing the words that had been festering inside me.

"Lewis, you are more than a fool—you're a motherfucking bitch. I regret every single moment I had with you."

He laughed harder and harder as I laid out my frustrations toward him. My emotions were controlling me now. I couldn't explain why, but tears threatened to stream down my face. I thought about every cent of investment I'd made in him, the love I'd shown him and what he'd shown me in return. Everything came crashing into my mind at once.

It made me feel like such a fool, especially because he kept laughing while I let out all my frustrations and anger. But I was mindful of the words I used, knowing this recording would serve as evidence against him.

Sandra finally spoke up, breaking through the silence and tension. "You're just a fool. You should be wise enough to know that I used you to get what I wanted. What did you expect me to do with a girl running away from her parents? What do you expect me to tell my children about who their mother was? How their mother lied to gain fame from their father's reputation?"

Her words made me feel fragile for a moment, making me question whether I really had been a fool. Hearing these things said so directly only made me angrier. Then I spoke up.

"Lewis, let's meet up at the spot where we can talk one-on-one."

He replied almost immediately, setting the date and time. "I'll meet you there."

Did he think I was a fool? Did he think I would just walk up to him unprepared, without anything? This would definitely be his downfall. I wouldn't kill him, but this would be enough proof of what I had planned for him. I would make sure he paid for every single drop of sweat and every moment of pain he'd caused me over the years.