- 10.
“No one insults my wife in my presence.” Robert’s voice was calm, but I knew the signs. He was furious. He snapped his fingers, and Sarah, his assistant, discreetly disappeared.
“Your wife?” Chloe shrieked, her body shaking with laughter. “What a joke! That would make Ethan your…” The thought trailed off. She couldn’t finish the sentence. She’d just
threatened Ethan’s career, and now… the joke was on her.
“You think I’m that easy to fool?” She refused to believe it. “Your last name is Thompson, hers
is Ray, Ethan’s is Miller…three different last
names!” She was grasping at straws,
desperately searching for an inconsistency.
How pathetic.
- 66.
(
“I took my grandpa’s last name. Got a problem
with that?” Ethan appeared, his arm casually
draped over Robert’s and my shoulders. The
picture was clear. As for Ethan’s last name…
that was my father’s fault. He was a henpecked husband and let me keep my mother’s last name. Later in life, he regretted it. So, when Robert and I got married, he didn’t ask for a dowry, just one thing: that our children take his last name. Robert agreed without hesitation.
The name didn’t matter. What mattered was our family. It was a kind of happiness Chloe, with her shady background, would never understand.
“How dare you talk back to Mr. Thompson!” A mountain of a man, Simon Davis, barreled towards us. Before he could catch his breath, he slapped Chloe across the face, sending her sprawling to the floor. The force of the blow shocked me. “She’s ignorant. Please forgive her, Ms. Ray, Mr. Thompson.” Simon bowed and scraped before us.
<
8:11
864
Chloe was still confused. “Dad, you own Stellar! Why are you afraid of this nobody?”
“Shut up! I’m not your father!” Simon glanced
at a figure in the crowd, his hand raised to
strike Chloe again. “Stellar belongs to Mr. Thompson now. Apologize if you want to keep your job.”
Stellar belonged to Robert? Ethan’s shares were a drop in the bucket, not enough for a controlling stake. Simon was the majority shareholder. “Mr. Thompson, you’re too kind. Why would a big shot like you joke with a small fry like me?” “Joke?” Robert chuckled. He rubbed a scar on his finger. “You
misunderstand, Mr. Davis. I’m simply repaying a debt of gratitude. Your…mentorship…shaped me into the man I am today.”
So, Simon was the rival Robert had worked for during his downfall. It was a humiliating chapter of his life he’d never shared with me. But why
8:11
go to such lengths to destroy Simon? I
remembered the gift. Stellar.
Six months ago, on my fiftieth birthday, Robert
had apologized for not having a proper gift.
asking me to sign a confusing document. I
hadn’t paid much attention then. Now I realized
it must have been related to the Stellar
acquisition. “Simon was willing to sell, but he
jacked up the price when he found out I was
the buyer.” Robert cultivated a low profile.
known as a silent power player. Simon, unaware
of Robert’s true wealth and influence, assumed
he only had Ray Entertainment.
“You can underestimate me, but you don’t get
to insult my wife.”
Chloe’s arrival had been a stroke of luck.
Robert, learning about her connection to Simon,
had played along, offering to handle Chloe in
exchange for the right to buy Stellar shares
later. Simon, blinded by greed, had walked into
8:11
く
874
a trap. Robert had gathered enough evidence to
destroy him.
“What evidence?” I was dying to know. Robert
just smiled, pushing me towards the stage. “This is your debut at Stellar. From today onwards, you’re the CEO.” That’s why he’d
chosen my outfit.
The spotlight blinded me. A new project, a
triple–A production, tailored specifically for me,
was announced. It was almost too much. Chloe,
however, stole the show. Learning about
Simon’s downfall and her own precarious
situation, she snapped. She grabbed Simon’s
thinning hair and started hitting him. “You killed
my mother! Now you’re trying to kill me!”
The darling of the industry, revealed as the
illegitimate daughter of a bankrupt fraudster?
The press had a field day, capturing her meltdown in all its glory. Chloe’s career was
over.
<
But the drama wasn’t over. The police arrived,
not to break up the fight, but to arrest Simon for attempted murder. “Simon paid a hefty sum to get rid of his mistress,” Robert explained.
The thugs he hired had assaulted Chloe’s
mother and accidentally killed her. It was a
different time, and Simon had been careful. The
case went cold.
“He should have known better.” I shook my head. Robert shrugged. “He didn’t care about the woman. He cared about his daughter…with his ex–wife.” He nodded towards the crowd. A familiar figure stepped forward. Jody. She held a DNA test report and slapped it across
Simon’s handcuffed wrists.
“How ironic. You were ruined by a fake
daughter.” “Don’t expect any sympathy from me
or my mother. We’ll never forgive you!”
Chloe trended again when Simon accused her
of extortion during his interrogation.
<
8:11
- >)
#FormerStarletFacingJailTime
#CleaningUpThe Industry #ChloeMillerExposed
Her past misdeeds, from schoolyard bullying to
petty scams, were plastered all over the
internet. Soon after, the authorities announced
their findings. The evidence was overwhelming.
Chloe was sentenced to eleven years.
Robert wasn’t surprised when I told him. “Wait,
when did you know Chloe wasn’t Simon’s
daughter?” He just smiled, a knowing look in his
eyes that sent shivers down my spine. Then it
hit me. Ethan’s antics… it was all part of Robert’s plan. My poor son… “He’s a grown man. It’s good for him to learn a few lessons,” Robert said casually, then his eyes turned to
- me.
Even after all these years, his gaze still made me blush. “But there’s one line he can’t cross.”
“Wh…what?” I pushed him away, but he pulled me onto the bed.
874
Even after all these years, his gaze still made
me blush. “But there’s one line he can’t cross.”
“Wh…what?” I pushed him away, but he pulled
me onto the bed.
“No one messes with my wife.”
