Chapter 128 Chapter 128

Chapter 128 Chapter 128
Veda’s POV

The door to my private penthouse swung open with a heavy thud. I stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the glittering city skyline, a glass of whiskey already in my hand. The three hefty men I had hired walked in, their faces tense, shoulders hunched like dogs expecting a beating. I could tell from their expressions that they had failed. Again.

I didn’t even let them speak first. 

“Well?” I snapped, my voice sharp as a blade. “Is it done? Is that little whore finally dead?”

The tallest one, the one who had been so confident earlier, stepped forward and cleared his throat. “Ma’am… she wasn’t there. We broke into the apartment like you instructed. Turned the place upside down. But Greer never showed up. We waited for hours. She must have been out celebrating that stupid win of hers.”

The words hit me like a slap across the face.

Rage exploded through my entire body, hot and blinding. My hand shook so violently that whiskey spilled over the rim of my glass. Greer was still alive. Breathing. Walking around like she owned the world. Still fucking my husband behind my back. The image of her and Calder together made bile rise in my throat.

“You useless pieces of shit!” I screamed.

In a flash of pure fury, I stormed toward the nearest man, yanked the gun from the holster under his jacket, and pointed it straight at the one who had delivered the news. His eyes widened in shock, but it was too late. I pulled the trigger without hesitation.

The gunshot echoed loudly through the penthouse. His body jerked violently before collapsing onto my expensive marble floor, blood pooling rapidly beneath him. The other two men froze, staring at me in terror.

I lowered the gun slightly, breathing hard, my chest heaving with uncontained hatred. “I paid you good money for one simple job. One! And you come back here telling me she wasn’t home? I wanted good news. I wanted to hear that Greer was dead. That her blood was on the floor instead of my vase. But no! she’s still out there, living her pathetic little dream, spreading her legs for Calder like the home-wrecking slut she is!”

I paced back and forth in front of them, the gun still warm in my hand. The smell of gunpowder and blood filled the air, but it only fueled me more. How dare she keep surviving? How dare she keep rising while I was forced to watch from the shadows, losing everything?

“I detest her,” I hissed, voice trembling with venom. “I detest that she’s still alive. Still breathing the same air as me. Still fucking my husband like she has any right to him. She stole my life. My position. My future. And now she thinks she can build an empire on my suffering? I will not allow it!”

The two remaining men stood completely still, eyes darting between me and their dead companion. Good. Let them be afraid. They should be.

Before I could continue my tirade, the door opened again. Another one of my men entered, looking nervous. He glanced at the body on the floor but quickly looked away.

“Ma’am… I have news.”

I turned on him sharply. “It better be that she’s dead.”

He swallowed hard. “No, ma’am. But… Greer just acquired a three-storey building in the prime district. She’s turning it into a flagship walk-in store for Lumina Bloom. Paid fifteen million dollars. The deal closed today.”

Fifteen million dollars.

The words echoed in my head like a death knell. My own daughter — the girl I had given birth to, the one I had tried to mold and then destroy — was now buying buildings worth fifteen million while I was losing my grip on everything. Success looked good on her. Too good. It infuriated me to my core.

I let out a scream of pure, unfiltered rage and threw my whiskey glass against the wall, where it shattered into a thousand pieces.

“No! No, no, no!” I shouted, voice cracking. “She doesn’t get to win like this! She doesn’t get to be more successful than me. I am Veda Rhys! I built my life on status and power, and this ungrateful little bitch thinks she can surpass me? I carried her. I gave her everything. And she repays me by stealing my husband and building an empire on my ruins?”

I turned back to the two surviving hefty men, eyes blazing with lethal intent. I raised the gun again, pointing it at them this time.

“Listen to me very carefully,” I said, my voice dropping into a dangerous whisper. “By tomorrow night, Greer must be pronounced dead. I don’t care how you do it. Car accident, sniper, poison, another break-in — I don’t give a damn. Make it happen. If she is still breathing by the end of tomorrow, I will end your lives myself. Slowly. Painfully. Do you understand me?”

Both men nodded frantically, fear evident in their eyes. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. Now get that body out of my penthouse and get to work. Fail me again, and you’ll join him.”

They dragged their dead companion away, leaving a trail of blood that my cleaner would have to deal with later. I didn’t care. All that mattered was ending Greer’s life.

I walked over to the bar and poured myself a fresh drink, hands still shaking with rage. The city lights mocked me from the windows. Somewhere out there, my daughter was celebrating her success, probably wrapped in Calder’s arms, thinking she had won.

She had no idea how deep my hatred ran.

I had once hoped for reconciliation, for her to stay in her lane and remain beneath me. But those days were gone. Greer was no longer my daughter. She was a threat. A cancer that needed to be cut out completely.

I sipped the whiskey slowly, letting the burn settle in my chest. Tomorrow night. One way or another, it would end.

Greer’s success, her glow, her very existence will all end tomorrow.

And I would finally be free of the monster I had created.