From Burden To Unstoppable Queen

on his perfect image. In my past life, his constant

er pregnancy and the miscarriage she blamed on me. While the world

I opene

gala, moments before Erica woul

es without question, slap me until I bled, a

monster! You trie

troyed me. This time, th

pte

first. 'GOLD DIGGER.' It was right there, beneath my last name, Bass. A fam

ating lightness filled me. I was

elt in your chest. It was deeper, a bone-deep tremor that hummed with purpose. I was reborn. I was right here, on the night of Ca

. Now, it was just a punchline. Holder Inc. had swallowed my family's legacy whole, leaving me as the fin

esn' t b

rying to cling t

s better than a

ful. We were old money, fading and desperate. The gap between us was a chasm. It always had been. Our bond was a childhood promise, a silly agre

He saw me as a burden, a stain on

Caleb' s personal assistant, his face a mask of polite disdain. "Mr. Hold

e that had taken hours to choose and fit. I remembered trying

ontinued, his eyes flicking to the banner with its ugly message. H

ey weren't there for general crowd control. They were there for me. Caleb' s message was clear: I

n sent away, dismissed, or outright humiliated. I remembered the night of the charity ball, how Caleb had ordered me to wait in the car for hours because my dress "clashed with his

them of the engagement. But Caleb's parents, Armstead and Bernadine, saw the marriage as a necessary b

ce of agony. I remembered Erica Carlson, Caleb' s true love, the ambitious act

claiming I had pushed her. Caleb, furious, dragging me away, his grip bruising my arm. The accusations, the public sh

his veiled threats about the "financial ruin" it would bring upon my family. He kept me trapped,

despair. The endless, suffocating despair. The bottle of pills. The

to the public eye, not pregnant, not miscarried, but very much alive and well. A few months later, she and Caleb were together, op

ish. So utterly, t

nuine, terrifying smile that felt alien and

steady, devoid of the tremor of fear he expected. "Please

ar away from Caleb Holder as humanly possible. I had a second ch