ManyWriters

My mother and I married a father and son. I became the wife of architect Liam Ashford, while she married his father Julian, the firm's founder.
"What now, Chloe? We're saving Scarlett's assets. You'll have to wait."
During a wildfire, I, eight months pregnant, dragged my mother with her weak heart to safety. My husband and stepfather chose to save another woman's legacy instead of their family.
They called it business. I called it a choice.
A choice that cost me my unborn son.
When they came to my recovery room, they only asked about the woman they had rescued. My husband Liam shoved me, his face twisted with rage at my "pathetic drama."
Then his eyes found my empty stomach. "Chloe," he choked out, "where is the baby?"
"Gone," I whispered, relishing his horror. "And it was the Ashford heir you wanted so badly."

Double Divorce, Mother-Daughter Revenge

My mother and I were discharged from the hospital later that same night.


We went back to the small condominium she had owned before her marriage.


The place had been vacant for a long time, so we spent hours clearing away the dust and the memories of a life before the Ashfords. In the end, we were so exhausted that we collapsed onto the bare mattress and fell asleep instantly.


The next day, our lawyer informed us that Liam and Julian were still refusing to sign the divorce papers.


The stalemate continued for the next few days.


In the meantime, my mother and I launched a small, independent design studio, C&E Designs. If we were ever going to be truly free of the Ashford family, we needed our own source of income.


My mother was a natural at networking. She excelled at attracting clients and selling them on our unique creative vision.


With her skills, we started to earn a respectable amount of money with each new project.


Chapter 5