OWNED BY MY EX-HUSBAND'S STEPBROTHER

I hate you so much Victor," Gloria said coldly. "I thought I gave you the perfect opportunity to sleep with your mistresses as much as you want. You can fuck any woman you want now without feeling guilty. Isn't that what you wanted? Not that you ever feel guilt anyway."

On the other end of the call, Victor sounded relaxed, almost amused by what Gloria was saying. "Honey, I will still fuck as many women as I want after this whole 'running away' thing you did," he said casually. "I just don't want my daughter thinking she lost her mom because of me. You know I love my daughter very much."

Gloria's grip on her phone tightened; she was about to explode with anger.

"My daughter will never lose her mother," Gloria said. "But she already lost her dad a long time ago. So stop pretending like you care about her now."

Victor didn't respond immediately. When he finally spoke, his tone was indifferent, like the conversation didn't matter to him at all. "If you say so, what's it going to be?"

"Fine," she snapped. "I will go to your mother's party. And I will take my daughter with me."

Gloria hung up before Victor could reply. She was already shaking with anger. The moment the call ended, she threw the phone onto the bed and covered her face with both hands. Her chest felt tight. She had really hoped she could cut ties with the Anderson family quickly after the divorce.

But Victor knew exactly how to control the situation. He's using their daughter as a tool to frustrate her.

Gloria knew that as long as their daughter was involved, she could never completely avoid him. "Great," she muttered bitterly. "Now I have to pretend to be the good wife again."

The person she dreaded seeing the most wasn't even Victor. It was his mother.

Her mother-in-law had never once taken her side in the marriage. Whenever Gloria complained about Victor coming home late or rumors about other women, his mother always took her son's side and would rather blame Gloria for her son going astray.

"A wife should be more understanding of her husband's needs. If a man looks elsewhere, it's because his wife isn't doing enough. You don't satisfy him, so he's seeking that satisfaction elsewhere. After all, he still comes home to you and your daughter at the end of the day. You need to behave better and stop nagging all the time."

Gloria took a deep breath and looked at herself in the mirror. "It's fine," she told herself quietly. "This will be the last time I will have to mingle with them. For my daughter's sake, I will go there once more."

After Gloria hung up, Victor looked at his phone and laughed under his breath. He already knew she would agree. She was that easy to control. He knew she would always come back if their daughter was involved. "Stupid woman. Let's see how she gets the divorce," he muttered.

At that moment, Annabel ran toward him holding a toy. "Daddy! Can we go home now? I want to see mummy!"

Victor crouched down and smiled. "My princess, don't you like daddy's company?"

"No," Annabel said seriously. "I like mommy's company better."

Victor raised his eyebrows. "Only Mommy? Daddy can keep you company too. I can take you to your favorite places and buy you the finest toys in this world. Won't you like that?"

Annabel shook her head. "No. Daddy, I only want my mommy."

"Why don't you want me?"

"Because Daddy doesn't keep his promises, and Daddy is always making mummy cry," she said honestly.

Victor froze for a moment. The words his daughter had just said made him uncomfortable, but he quickly brushed it off. "Why would Gloria cry all the time when he's always giving her money? He made sure she and their daughter never lacked anything. Anyway, that's nonsense," he said with a forced smile. "I'm sure that when Annabel grows up, she will know what a great father I was."

Gloria chose a simple red dress with an open back from her bag. It was one of her favorite dresses before she got married to Victor. She left all the expensive gowns Victor bought for her in her closet. She doesn't want anything that will connect her to him anymore.

On the way to the Gray mansion, she called him.

Victor answered on the first ring. "Yes, Mrs. Anderson." "Where are you?" Gloria asked. "I'm heading to your mom's place right now. And where is my daughter?"

"Oh, our daughter and I are already here," he said. "She's with her grandma."

Then he added casually, "My mom keeps asking about you. She says you are slacking off on your duties as a wife, and you can't even take care of yourself or your family."

He lowered his voice slightly. "I mean, she's not wrong. She's right."

Gloria ended the call. She knew arguing with Victor was pointless. She knew that everything would be over soon, and she would be free from Victor and his narcissistic mother.

She walked toward the main hall, but suddenly someone stepped in front of her - two people, actually.

"You actually came," a female voice asked.

She looked up. Victor stood there with his secretary, his arm around her waist, staring at her with a smirk.

Victor's eyes moved slowly over her dress.

"She doesn't even know how to dress properly," his secretary said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"That old dress looks good on you," Victor said. "It reminds me of when we used to sneak around in college. It's just so unfortunate that you have lost all your charms and have become old, unlike my beautiful secretary here, who's still in her prime, and knows how to take care of my needs in bed."