Chapter 8
Blackstone Holdings ultimately avoided bankruptcy, but the effects of the divorce were impossible to erase.
In just a few weeks, the company’s stock plummeted nearly 40%, multiple partnerships were terminated, and over a dozen core investors withdrew their capital.
Knox was no longer the decisive, commanding CEO he once was,
He shut himself away in his mansion, his room littered with empty bottles.
Alcohol became his sanctuary, with precious few moments of sobriety.
Bailey, unwilling to give up the opportunity she had worked so hard for, visited the mansion daily to take care of him.
She tidied his room, prepared hangover soup, and even carefully bathed him when he was too drunk to function.
“Mr. Blackstone, please drink some water,”
Bailey offered, holding out a glass.
Knox lifted his bloodshot eyes, focusing for just a moment before falling back into confusion.
“Aria… is that you? Have you come back?”
He reached out to touch Bailey’s cheek.
Bailey froze. This was the seventeenth time–seventeen times Knox had mistaken her for his dead first love.
“I’m not Aria. I’m Bailey, Bailey Carter,”
she reminded him gently, fighting back the bitterness in her heart.
Knox seemed not to hear her, continuing as if in a trance.
“Aria, please stay this time… don’t leave again…”
“ENOUGH!”
Bailey screamed, throwing the water glass to the floor where it shattered into pieces.
Knox startled at the sound, looking at her in confusion.
“I’ve been such a fool!”
Bailey’s voice shook with emotion.
“How could I fall in love with someone like you? A man who only sees me ás someone else?”
“You deserve this! You brought all of this on yourself!”
Bailey finally exploded, releasing the jealousy and resentment that had been building for so long.
“You had a wife you didn’t cherish, and now you’re in this pathetic state, still pining for your fucking precious Aria!!”
Mistrace in Mu Mansion? Not for Long!
77.8%
Chapter 1
Knox’s gaze suddenly sharpened, the drunken haze clearing from his eyes.
For the first time in weeks, he became fully lucid.
“Bailey, don’t you dare speak about her like that. Get out!”
Bailey let out a cold laugh.
“You’re still defending her? Do you know she’s not even dead?”
Suddenly, Knox was stunned into silence.
“What nonsense are you talking about?!”
“Nonsense?”
“I’m telling you, she never died!”
“She faked her death with money from your parents!” Bailey shouted hysterically.
“She even left instructions for you to keep supporting her secret boyfriend’s company!”
Knox suddenly grabbed her by the throat, pinning her against the wall.
“SHUT UP!”
She struggled, her face gradually turning purple until Knox finally released his grip. Bailey collapsed to the floor, gasping desperately for air.
“How do you
think I know all these details about your relationship?”
“She came to me! She thought your support for her boyfriend’s company wasn’t enough–she wanted more!”
“So she approached me, helped me get close to you, all to extract more benefits!”
Knox’s face turned ashen, his body swaying unsteadily!
“Impossible… Aria already…”
“Died?”
Bailey laughed mockingly.
“Why don’t you ask your parents? Ask them if they gave Aria $5,000,000!”
After making a phone call to verify, Knox collapsed to the floor.
The conversation was brief, but devastating.
“I… because of you two venomous women…”
“I ended up hurting Vega…”
He mumbled, his voice completely broken.
Bailey, watching his breakdown, burst into laughter.
Chapter
“Knox, don’t blame others. You pushed away the person who loved you most with your own hands
Knox jerked his head up.
“GET OUT! I never want to see you again!”
Knox returned to the company and convened an emergency board meeting, decisively cutting ties with several problematic business partners.
Three days later, the once–thriving “Nexus Tech” declared bankruptcy, and its founder Jason Harris was taken into police custody for suspected financial fraud.
This was the company founded by Aria’s side piece–the same one Knox had been secretly supporting all along
Meanwhile, Bailey received a text message from an unknown number.
“I know you betrayed me.”
As night fell, Bailey quickened her pace, feeling like someone was following her.
She turned into a small alley, hoping to take a shortcut home…
The next morning, the front page of the
newspaper
carried a headline:
[TWO FEMALE BODIES DISCOVERED IN AN ALLEY, POLICE PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION SUGGESTS THEY KILLED EACH OTHER]
Knox stared at the newspaper, his eyes fixing on the two names.
Bailey Carter. Aria Mills.
