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Julia

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My eyes are red from unshed tears. Each breath I took was difficult. After what happenedst night, I knew I had to double, no, triple my fight against Lydia to win and get Mason back.

I had to act and act right, so I met the only person I knew was on my side. Victoria.

“I am ready to do anything to kick Lydia out of our lives for good,” I said, and I meant each word. My lungs felt caged. I could no longer feel my heart, not through the pain that was spreading from my heart all over my body.

Yesterday, I had left the hall defeated after spending nights rehearsing my victory. Mason was supposed to feel ashamed when she made a fool of herself on stage, instead, I ended up making a fool of myself, all because of her. Lydia.

I locked eyes with Victoria, awaiting her next instruction. We failed once, but that doesn’t mean we’d fail again.

“I did my best to search for dirt on her, at least something to ckmail her with so she leaves Mason, but I found nothing, her te is clean,” I confessed, my chest clenched at the thought, and my pain was reced with anger.

I grind my teeth together, pushing one hand through my hair. “How could a woman who destroyed my rtionship have nothing on her, not even a speck?” Imented. The thought of it was infuriating. “I just need one thing.b” /bI raised a finger, drunk from pain, with a mixture of agitation.

Since Lydia had lived with her as a daughter–inw, I am sure she knows something.

Mrs Woods chewed on her bottom lip for a while, then brought down my finger, which I held up. “I have several things that can bring her down.” She said, her voice cold and calcted.

My brows shot up, and a pleasing smile found its way to my lips. Finally, “But I have to warn you, if you want to go against her, you must be ready to go all out, hold back nothing, Lydia is not to be underestimated.” She moved backwards and gave me a stern look.

As Victoria spoke, I watched her with admiration. If you ask me, watching your son think of you as a viin because of a woman would make any mother go mad. But here she was holding herself together.

She brushed my cheeks, then some strands of hair away from my face, “Once we start this battle, you can’t pull out, we’d finish it together.” I nodded vehemently. She didn’t need to ask that.

“I am ready to stick with you till we get what we both want, Mom.” Her face brightened up.

“Good,” she leaned in and began, “first we’d contact Jones.” “The reporter?” I inquired. “Yes. I’ve got something that will make headlines.” Her lips curved into a smirk.

A wave of joy and anticipation surged through me. Lydia was so done this time.

The article was posted around 3 am in the morning. By 6 am, it had already circted, spreading like a wide

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fire. I scrolled through thements with a big smile stered on my face.

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Victoria sat in front of me with a ss in her hand. “How about a toast, things seemed to be going the way we wanted.” She said, raising her ss. I picked up my ss and lifted it before slowly meeting it with hers.

Once the sses kissed, it made a soft clink.

“To Lydia’s downfall.” She said, and I echoed.

We had spent all night awake, digging for information, things to back up our ims. Now that we were already getting results, it was time to sleep a little before the press conference we arranged. What’s news with a bit of drama?

I had to say Victoria is really smart. And Lydia was definitely not to be underestimated. A woman who killed her stepfather–inw just to hide the truth about her affair with him was worth being terrified of.

I would never have guessed that was the reason for her divorce from Mason five years ago.

She found her way out of prison by blowing it off and disappeared for five years, then returned as the queen whom everyone envied. Her disappearance begged the question, where had she been for five yearsb? /b

Lydia is truly one terrifying woman, andizens were doing a good job.

The posts about our humiliation at the auction were quickly buried and reced with the truth about Lydia, her true identity and crime.

I woke up to over ten missed calls and a dozen messages, friends and family wanted to know the truth. I didn’t reply to anyone. In an hour they would get the answers to their questions.

Victoria came in that morning in thepany of two maids. One held my dress, shoes and essories, the other held a tray of food.

“Eat and get dressed, the conference is in an hour,” She said.

I did as I was told.

I leaned into the leather seat and inhaled a sharp breath, my emotions juggling within me. We were close to the venue for the press conference. My palm turned sweaty, and I wiped it on my dress for the umpteenth time.

The car rolled to a stop, and Victoria wrapped her hand over mine, slightly brushing her thumb through mine. She had her emotions and everything in ce.

“Don’t be scared. Everything will go ording to n. There’s no way Lydia will fix this.” She assured me. She was right, and I kept reminding myself as I stepped out of the car.

A sea of reporters surrounded us, their cameras clicking loudly. I held my breath, and my legs turned wobbly.

Victoria held my hand in support.

“Is Alissa Brooks truly the reason for your breakup with Mr. Woods?b” /b

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“Were you aware Alissa Brooks was Mr. Woods’s ex–wife?”

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“Mrs. Woods, how did you cope with seeing your husband’s murderer for the past months without doing anything about it?”

“What else is Alissa Brooke hiding?”

They mmed us with questions, each sharper than the other. While I was a bit taken aback by the crowd and everything, Victoria wasn’t; she didn’t as much as flinch.

Five men were in front of us, holding hands to form a barrier, keeping the reporters at a safe distance as we walked through the red carpet spread out in front of the venue.

“Is Mr. Woods aware of the dark side of Alissa Brooke?”

“He was with her at the auction, does that mean he chose her despite knowing about these ims?”

“Did you leak out this information to get them?”

We forged forward without answering the reporters. Victoria had expressly told me we were not here to answer the reporters or feed them what they wanted to know.

“We tell them what we want and they make out what theizens like.” It turned out that dragging Lydia through the mud was easier than expected.

We walked up the stairs to a podium where chairs had been arranged. She sat first. After settling down, my eyes swept across the hall, which was now filled to the brim.

Packed with reporters and high–profile individuals. This news about Lydia was enough to shake the business industry, pulling even the busiest men.

“Good afternoon everyone.” Victoria greeted, and a hush spread across the hall as everyone started right back at us, their eyes filled with anticipation.

“I know you’ve all seen the news about my ex–daughter–inw and son.” She began, then paused to allow the words to sink in.

A wave of mummer spread across the hall. She continued, “I’d like to confirm all the news as true. Alissa Brook’s real name is Lydia, and she was married to my son seven years ago.” Her voice was clipped when she talked about their married life.

“Then one day, I found my husband dead in the room. She killed him in front of my daughter, Zoe.” Her voice strained with pain, and she took in severalboured breaths, tears rolling down her face, smudging her mascara across her cheeks.

I rubbed her back, “she killed the man I love to hide her affair. I never knew how connected she was until she was arrested. I thought she was dead, we all thought she was dead, and then she returned this year with twins, iming they were for Mason.” She broke downpletely, her shoulder shook as she sobbed. I suppressed

my gasp.

I never knew she had children with Mason. But this wasn’t the time to show I was in the dark. It was time for

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I knew it was time for me to take over, “she worked her way through my rtionship with Mason, ruined it and now, she is parading herself as his. She may be sessful, but does sess stop you from having human decency?”

Our confirmation tore the hall apart, and it erupted. Reporters threw questions, wanting to know more.

There was no way Lydia was getting out of this mess.