Filed to story: Unmasking the Billionaire: Don’t Mess with the Ex (Victoria & Carter) Book PDF Free
Victoria Lewis lay in a hospital bed, staring at the ceiling. Her face was pale, her eyes hollow and unfocused. Beside her, the monitor beeped in a slow, steady rhythm.
In the quiet room, the sound felt unnaturally loud, each pulse pressing into the silence. The air smelled of disinfectant and something heavier, the kind of quiet that came with resignation.
Her son was dead. Robert Myers had been killed in a car accident that morning.
In his final moments, the one person he had desperately wanted to see was his father, Carter Myers.
But Carter never came. He had been “busy” having dinner with Isabella Williams, the woman he had loved long before Victoria. The woman he never quite let go of, even after marriage.
Suddenly, the ward door swung open.
Sharp heels clicked against the floor, far too loud for a place like this. The sound grew closer with each step.
Victoria forced herself to look toward the approaching figure.
It was Isabella.
Victoria hated her for taking everything – her husband, her son, her whole life.
She wanted to get up, to rip her apart. But she couldn’t. She had no strength left.
“You look terrible,” Isabella said lightly. “Hospitals really drain people, don’t they?”
Victoria didn’t answer.
Isabella stepped closer.
“Carter is with me now,” she said. “Everyone knows that.”
She paused, letting the words settle.
“Oh. Right.” Her lips curved. “That little bastard of yours is dead, so Carter is going to make my son his heir. Publicly. As for you… you’d be better off gone. Your son must be lonely. You wouldn’t want him waiting too long, would you?”
A single, hot tear escaped the corner of Victoria’s eye, tracing a silent path down her cold cheek.
Isabella leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a poisonous whisper, “Did you ever wonder why that car accident happened so… conveniently? I made it happen. I just made a few calls. Paid the right people. Easy.” She shrugged. “Accidents happen. And even if Carter finds out, do you think he’ll care?” She let out a soft, mocking laugh. “Because… he’s never Carter’s kid. He never should have existed. His death was necessary.”
Victoria had no idea what Isabella meant.
Isabella sneered, “Remember those men at the hotel? The ones who ‘accidentally’ slept with you and gave you HIV?” Isabella’s eyes glittered with malice. “That was no accident. I orchestrated that, too.”
Victoria couldn’t believe it. What on earth is she talking about? She means Robert’s dad is one of those men at the hotel?
Victoria’s eyes locked onto Isabella, bloodshot and unblinking.
She, the cherished daughter of the Lewis family, chosen personally by Carter’s grandfather, Charles, to be his granddaughter-in-law, had always put Carter first. When he brought the ailing Isabella home, Victoria had even bent over backwards to help her, all out of gratitude because Isabella had once saved Carter’s life and fallen ill because of it.
Every bit of her misery – all of it – was because of Isabella.
“Look at you,” Isabella sneered, her gaze sweeping over Victoria’s frail form with disgust. “You’re pathetic. Yet he still hasn’t divorced you. It’s infuriating.”
Pulling out her phone, Isabella flashed a screen showing a message from Carter, “Bella, happy birthday. Your favorite gift is ready.” Below the text was a picture of an extravagant, custom-made bouquet of roses.
“See?” Isabella waved the phone tauntingly. “The man you’re so obsessed with doesn’t give a damn about you. He’s busy preparing my birthday present. Oh, and he’s planning to propose to me. We’re going to have the grandest wedding this city has ever seen. Nothing like your pathetic little secret marriage he’s always been so ashamed of.”
Her smile widened, triumphant and vicious. “Pity you won’t be around to see it. Consider today your death anniversary.”
Victoria’s eyes bulged, her chest beginning to seize. The ventilator’s steady rhythm turned frantic and erratic. She clutched at the thin hospital sheets, but her body was too weak, her strength utterly spent.
A final, shuddering breath escaped her lips, her pupils dilated, fixed, and then… nothing.
*****
“Mommy?”
A small, warm hand shook hers.
Hearing Robert’s voice, Victoria snapped her eyes open.
“Mommy? What are you thinking about?”
She sucked in a sharp breath and looked down.
She was standing outside the airport, her fingers wrapped tightly around her son’s small hand.
Robert was right there. Alive.
His cute face looked brighter in the sunlight.
She blinked, disoriented. The harsh hospital lights were gone. Cars passed. People talked. A breeze brushed her face. She pinched herself. It was real.
She dropped down and pulled him into her arms, holding him as if he might disappear if she let go.
Tears instantly welled in her eyes.
Her voice was thick and trembling. “Robert… I missed you so, so much…”
Robert looked puzzled but gently patted her back. “Mommy, what’s wrong? Weren’t we just together?”
Victoria looked up into Robert’s clear, guileless eyes, a hurricane of emotions raging inside her. It was unbelievable, but it was true – she had been reborn. Back to the very day Carter’s beloved Isabella returned to the country. It was also the day Victoria returned with Robert.
In her previous life, Carter hadn’t been here to pick them up. He was here for Isabella and her son, Jenarth Williams. He’d even brought them straight to Myers Manor. Back then, she’d been kind and welcoming to Isabella and Jenarth, filled with a sense of obligation because Isabella had saved Carter and gotten sick. She’d felt her whole family owed Isabella a debt.
Jenarth. Jenarth! What a cruel joke. Carter isn’t even his father, yet his name is a combination of Carter and Isabella. Those two really put their love above everything else.
Her husband, Carter, had doted on Jenarth, spending all his time with him and Isabella, treating the boy so well that even Robert had felt jealous.
Now, looking at Robert, Isabella’s words echoed in her mind: “He’s never Carter’s kid.”
Her gaze darkened. She needed to figure out what was really going on behind it all.
She had been brought back to the Lewis family, and under Charles’ arrangement, she’d had a child with Carter and become his wife. Carter had always been distant, but she’d tried her best to be the perfect wife, partly to repay Charles’ kindness.
But things had never gone her way.
Today marked the beginning of her previous nightmare. This time, she would never let anyone hurt her or her child again.
Just then, Carter appeared at the arrivals gate, holding a massive bouquet of flowers. After a short wait, Isabella emerged, holding Jenarth’s hand.
A smile broke out on Carter’s face. He handed the flowers to Isabella, took her suitcase, and then knelt down to scoop Jenarth into a hug.
Jenarth immediately wrapped his arms around Carter’s neck and planted a loud kiss on his cheek.
The scene was sickeningly sweet, like a perfect, happy family. Anyone watching would have thought they were the picture of domestic bliss.
Victoria watched it all unfold with a chilling calm, but Carter’s behavior turned her stomach.
