Chapter 13 - The Desperate Encounter on the AvenueDriven by a mixture of panic, lingering delusion, and bitter resentment, Vivien spent her last twenty dollars on a subway ticket to Manhattan. She positioned herself outside the prestigious midtown headquarters of Vance Logistics—formerly Valentino’s crown jewel—waiting for the woman she once called her best friend.
At precisely 2:00 PM, a sleek black town car pulled up to the glass-fronted entrance.
The door opened, and Elena stepped out. She didn't look like the pregnant woman crying in a Manhattan penthouse. She moved with the lethal, effortless grace of an apex predator, flanked by two towering security operatives.
"Elena!"
A frantic scream cut through the street noise.
Vivien lunged forward from behind a concrete pillar, her hair disheveled, her coat flapping in the cold wind. "Elena, stop! You have to listen to me!"
The security guards moved instantly, pinning Vivien against the glass wall before she could take another step.
"Get your hands off me!" Vivien shrieked, struggling against their iron grip. She stared wild-eyed at Elena, who had stopped and turned around slowly.
Elena looked at Vivien the way a scientist looks at a specimen under a microscope—with complete, clinical detachment.
"Vivien," Elena said, her voice smooth and chillingly calm. "You look... different. Brooklyn not treating you well?"
"You did this!" Vivien sobbed, tears cutting tracks through her cheap makeup. "You ruined my life! You took everything from me! We were friends for twelve years!"
Elena stepped closer, the sharp, expensive scent of her perfume cutting through the exhaust fumes of the avenue.
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"Friends don't sleep with each other's husbands, Vivien," Elena whispered, her dark eyes flashing with cold fire. "And you chose your bed. Now you get to lie in it. Permanently."
She signaled the guards with a subtle flick of her wrist. They released Vivien, who stumbled backward onto the dirty pavement, sobbing uncontrollably as Elena turned her back and walked regally through the glass doors of her empire.
