Traded For Ambition: The Mistress Strikes Back

through my architectural designs, believing his lies

he Vances, I became a liability. I tried to resign q

society gala, she projected my private, intimate phot

He didn't flinch. He just sipped his scotch

nce pay to leave town, I met Ethan on

ial, telling me I had to "service" the man to secure a

he clothes on my back, realizing the man I loved w

UV pulled up. The window rolled down to reveal Noah Miller-

th lust or pity. He loo

h said, unloc

em why you don't th

pte

a

ware that the moment the ink dried, the man who had sworn to p

avy with legal jargon that distilled my life down to

ked like a benevolent grandfather; however, I knew this was the same man who had orchest

, Mia," he said. It wasn't a qu

d

't going t

han Cole. The Capo of the family. The man who had claimed my innocence in a dorm room five ye

e to be steadier than my trembling hands. "He's getti

severance. It is... generous. But you know the

e money, yet I knew I would need every ce

e polished wood of the desk, the sou

wn. A text f

end the boys to your mo

nished fro

tching my bag.

y watched, his expression detached, like

ade reflected a woman I barely recognized-pale, hollowed out, and

eca didn't feel like a commute;

e we had whispered promises in the dark, where he swore he loved me even

rs opened direct

Vance was

autiful-sharp, gleaming, and lethal. She held a

was light, laced with poisonous amusement. "The one w

"Isabella. I resi

devoid of humor. "You don't get

he sound of tearing paper screamed through the silent apartment. It w

," I

ge. Then another. "Ga

ator chi

walk

ir perfectly styled, but deep weariness was etched into t

y*. Not *sweetheart*. Ju

said, my voice crack

g in her fist and let it drop to the floor like trash.

me. Then he lo

itnessed the precise moment he weighed five years of o

abella and placed a hand

, utterly devoid of the warmth I used to live for

ped forward a

d snapped to the side. My cheek burned with immediate fir

He just watched, his hand still resti

. You were just a meaningless release, darling. A warm b

ny it. Waiting for the man who had held

.. bored.

here?" he a

et," s