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The brutal winter air, sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, lashed Marina’s face as she stumbled out of the lawyer’s office, but its icy grip was nothing compared to the shock that awaited her. Standing there on the desolate pavement, a predatory smile playing on her lips, was Nadine – Elias’s ex-wife. Nadine’s eyes, usually sharp and calculating, now gleamed with an almost triumphant malice, reflecting a bitter satisfaction that chilled Marina to the bone. For sixteen years, Nadine had simmered with barely concealed resentment, always viewing Marina as an interloper, an unwelcome footnote in Elias’s life. Now, that long-festering bitterness erupted with venomous precision. “You were never meant to have anything,” Nadine spat, her voice dripping with an ancient, toxic spite. “Childless second wives don’t inherit a legacy. They’re just footnotes.” The words were a physical blow, stripping Marina of any remaining dignity, confirming the devastating betrayal laid bare in Elias’s will. Before Marina could even comprehend the full magnitude of this double-edged cruelty, Nadine delivered the final, crushing ultimatum: Marina was to vacate the cherished home they had built together immediately. No discussion, no grace period, just a ruthless expulsion. Homeless, heartbroken, and utterly blindsided by the twin betrayals of her late husband’s inexplicable will and his ex-wife’s vengeful decree, Marina had nowhere to go, no one to turn to. The life she knew, the future she envisioned, all crumbled to dust in that single, brutal moment on the cold, unforgiving street. Where would she go? How could she survive?
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