Chapter 2 - A Cruel Awakening
I woke up on Jackson’s wedding morning feeling a strange draft in my bedroom.
I reached up to brush my thick, silver hair out of my face.
My fingers touched nothing but smooth, cold skin.
Panic seized my chest instantly.
I scrambled out of bed and ran barefoot toward the grand mirror in my bathroom.
I gasped, covering my mouth as tears immediately spilled over my cheeks.
My head had been shaved entirely while I slept.
The silver hair Frank used to love so much was gone.
I stumbled back into the bedroom, my legs shaking uncontrollably.
That was when I saw it.
A folded piece of heavy cardstock sat perfectly centered on my nightstand.
I recognized Natalie’s elegant, looping handwriting immediately.
I opened it with trembling hands.
“Now you finally have the look that suits you, you ridiculous old woman.”
The words blurred as my eyes filled with fresh tears.
It was a violation of the highest order.
She had crept into my sanctuary, my private space, and assaulted me in my sleep.
Nobody attending the wedding knew what I had arranged for the following morning.
The transfer of one hundred twenty million dollars was scheduled for 9:00 AM the day after the ceremony.
That made Natalie’s note feel less like a cruel prank and more like a twisted revelation.
She thought she had already won.
She thought I was weak, pathetic, and easily discarded.
I rushed to my closet to find something to wear, anything to cover myself.
I opened the heavy mahogany doors.
My pale-blue mother-of-the-groom dress—custom-made for this exact day—hung on its velvet hanger.
But it had been destroyed.
It was violently cut into jagged, unwearable strips from the neckline to the hem.
Below it, the safe where I kept my everyday jewelry was wide open.
My jewelry box was gone.
I ran to the security panel in the hallway.
The system logs showed that the alarm had been disarmed at 2:00 AM.
Only three people had the passcode: myself, Jackson, and recently, Natalie.
I buzzed the kitchen to speak to my head housekeeper, Maria.
Her voice trembled when she answered.
She confirmed my worst fear: she had seen Natalie leaving my bedroom wing in the middle of the night.
Maria had assumed Natalie was just checking on me, as she had claimed to be doing.
For several minutes, I sat on the edge of the bed.
I felt every single one of my sixty-eight years pressing down on my shoulders.
The mirror across the room reflected someone exposed, broken, and humiliated.
But then, staring at my own reflection, something inside me shifted.
The tears stopped.
A cold, hard fire ignited in my chest.
I had built a multi-million dollar business in a man's world.
I had buried the man I loved and held our empire together while grieving.
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I had survived everything life had placed before me.
I would not allow a cruel little girl who confused kindness with weakness to erase me.
