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“My mother-in-law laughed when I claimed I could remove her son as CEO. Sloan laughed too. Then the chairman opened the ballroom doors carrying the one thing they never expected to see.” / Chapter 4 / 10

Chapter 4 - Rats Fleeing a Sinking ShipCaldwell sat in a dingy diner in Queens. Across from him sat Sloan. She wore large sunglasses, looking around as if the cheap vinyl booths might infect her with poverty.

"Sloan, baby, you have to listen to me," Caldwell begged, reaching for her hands. She pulled them away. "It's a temporary freeze. My lawyers are going to tear her apart in divorce court. I just need to borrow fifty thousand dollars to retain the bulldog attorney I found. I know you have it. I bought you that diamond tennis bracelet last month—just pawn it."

Sloan lowered her sunglasses, looking at Caldwell as if he were a rotting piece of meat.

"Pawn my jewelry? For you?" she scoffed. "Caldwell, I didn't date a married man to finance his legal battles. I dated you because you were supposed to leave your boring wife and give me a penthouse."

"I love you!" he hissed.

"You loved the fact that I made you feel young," Sloan corrected sharply. She stood up, throwing a five-dollar bill on the table for her coffee. "You're broke, Caldwell. And honestly? Without the money and the power... you're just an aging, pathetic man. Don't call me again."

As Sloan walked out of the diner, Caldwell’s phone buzzed. It was his mother.

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Caldwell slammed his head onto the sticky diner table, the walls of his fake empire finally crushing him.

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Chapter 5 - The Prenup RevelationThe arbitration room was suffocatingly tense. Caldwell sat beside a cheap, aggressive divorce lawyer he had hired on a contingency fee. He looked haggard, dark circles bruising the skin under his eyes.
Chapter 6 - The Fall of Queen EleanorEleanor Vance had spent a decade treating service workers like dirt and bragging about her brilliant, wealthy son. Now, she was standing in the lobby of a budget apartment complex in the Bronx, arguing with a tired leasing agent.
Chapter 7 - A New HorizonWith the dead weight of Caldwell finally excised from my life, I thrived. I stepped officially into the role of CEO of Vance Global, immediately rebranding it to Vanguard Enterprises.
Chapter 8 - The Society GalaSix months later, the annual Manhattan Charity Gala was the event of the season. It was the same event where Caldwell had humiliated me a year prior.
Chapter 9 - The Final SeveranceThe next morning, the headlines of the financial papers were dominated by my success. Vanguard Enterprises Acquires Rival Firm. Saraphina Vance Named Most Powerful Woman on Wall Street.
Chapter 10 - The Phoenix RisingA year later, the scars of my past life were nothing but distant memories.

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