Chapter 5
Liza looked stunned. “You really mean it?”
“Yeah.”
“Could you say it on record? Eldon won’t believe me unless he hears it himself.”
She held up her phone, the recording app had already opened.
Mona tilted her head. “Give me another bow, and I’ll think about it.”
Before she’d even finished the sentence, Liza bowed.
Then she looked up, eyes shining, holding the phone out like a trophy. “Now will you?”
Mona nodded slightly and leaned toward the phone. “I forgive Liza. I wish her and Eldon a lifetime of love and happiness.”
Tears streamed down Liza’s face as she lit up with joy. “Mona, I’ll never forget your kindness. You have to come to my birthday party tomorrow, okay?”
With the recording secured, she practically floated out of the room–light as a feather, glowing with triumph.
Eldon had told her: if she got Mona’s forgiveness, he’d propose to her at the party tomorrow.
And she was going to make damn sure Mona had a front–row seat.
10.44 0
Chaplers
She wanted her to watch–watch as the man she once loved knelt before someone else.
She wanted her to see how her parents, her brother–her entire family–now belonged to someone else.
Liza thought, ‘So what if Mona is the biological daughter? In this house, she still ranks lower than a stray dog. And the bow I gave tonight? Tomorrow, I’ll make Mona crawl and return.‘
The next day, Liza’s birthday party was held at the most luxurious five- star hotel in Ulby.
Mona wasn’t invited as a guest–she was brought along like the hired help, expected to pitch in and manage the behind–the–scenes chaos.
But while everyone else was busy prepping, she quietly slipped into the projection room and swapped out the birthday tribute video.
The heartfelt montage celebrating Liza’s special day? Replaced with at video of Micah having an affair.
He’d always said she was an embarrassment, a disgrace for having grown up in the mountains.
Well, now it was his turn to be embarrassed. She’d make sure he was laughed at for the rest of his life.
After that, Mona found a seat in the party hall with a perfect view of the stage and the massive screen behind it.
She sat down and waited for the show to begin.
Natalie, who had been helping with the party all morning, came over just then.
10443
Chapters
“Ms. Morse, you’ve been on your feet since sunrise. You haven’t eaten a thing. Here–have some sugar water, it’ll give you a bit of strength.”
Mona was starving and parched. She took the bowl and drank it all in one go.
“Thanks, Natalie.”
Natalie gave her a kindly smile and turned to leave–disappearing around the corner, then heading straight upstairs to the dressing room.
As soon as she walked in, she told Liza, “Ms. Morse, I saw her drink it with my own eyes.”
Liza handed over a thick wad of cash. “Well done. You can go.”
‘Mona really is an idiot,‘ Liza thought with glee. ‘Just one act of kindness- having Natalie tidy her room before she got home–and her guard has completely dropped.”
‘Now, all I have to do is wait. Once the drug kicks in, Mona will be making a spectacle of herself–clinging to random men in heat, throwing herself at anyone she can grab.‘
And Liza would be watching, smiling, as Mona’s dignity burned to ashes.
She didn’t just want to take what Mona once had–she wanted to ruin her completely. Tear her down until the Morse family had no choice but to
throw her out like trash.
Because as long as Mona still shared their blood, she was a threat.
The party soon reached its climax.
Mona stood quietly in a far corner, watching as Liza took the stage, surrounded by glowing lights and heartfelt wishes from the guests.
10 W
Then Eldon stepped up, holding a huge bouquet of red roses.
He walked toward Liza with the poise of a man about to propose–but his eyes kept flicking to the crowd, scanning it over and over, as if looking for someone.
Liza’s cheeks flushed. Her fists clenched and released nervously.
Eldon picked up the mic and gazed at her with practiced tenderness.
“Liza, happy birthday. On this beautiful day… will you marry-”
He didn’t get to finish.
The massive screen behind him suddenly flickered to life–and a very different kind of video started playing.
The room fell into stunned silence as moans and gasps filled the hall, echoing through the hotel speakers.
Two naked bodies tangled together onscreen. The camera didn’t shy away- it showed everything. Faces, movements, sweat.
And the man in the video?
Clear as day: Micah. Liza’s father. A respected public figure.
