As the service ended and people drifted into the reception hall, Victoria strutted ahead of the crowd, accepting condolences like applause. She didn’t know every campaign she appeared in, every photo she posed for, every lookbook she bragged about… would soon be wiped from our brand’s future plans.
I waited until she had separated herself with a champagne flute—utterly inappropriate at a funeral, but perfectly “Victoria.”
“Elena,” she said, not bothering to look at me. “Next time try not to represent the Hale family like a thrift store tragedy.”
I inhaled slowly. “Victoria, about your contract—”
“My contract?” She snorted. “Please. You know nothing about fashion. Just stay in whatever cubicle job you have.”
“My cubicle job?” I repeated with a smile.
Before she could continue, Daniel—the head of operations she had never bothered to acknowledge—approached.
“Ms. Hale,” he said, addressing me with professional respect. “Legal has confirmed your signature. Her termination becomes public at noon.”
Victoria blinked. “Termination? Whose termination?”
Daniel held her gaze. “Yours, Ms. Hale.”
She barked out a laugh. “You’re firing me? Do you know who I am? HÉLOISE needs—”
“HÉLOISE,” Daniel said evenly, “belongs to her.”
He nodded in my direction.
Victoria’s champagne glass slipped from her fingers, shattering on the floor. She turned pale, her lips barely forming the words:
“You… own HÉLOISE?”
“I built it,” I said softly. “Every stitch. Every campaign. Every job you ever bragged about.”
The room had gone silent. Relatives stared, whispers spreading like wildfire. Even my mother hovered nervously, unsure whose side she should stand on.
Victoria stepped closer, voice trembling. “You planned this. You waited to humiliate me.”
“No,” I replied. “You humiliated yourself. I just stopped shielding you.”
Her perfect world began cracking right there amidst the funeral flowers.
And I was nowhere near done.
Within 24 hours, the fashion world received a discreet but unmistakable announcement:
Victoria Hale was no longer affiliated with HÉLOISE.
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