Chapter 3

It was raining when we pulled up to the house on Maple Drive. My house. The blue shutters I'd painted myself. The rose bushes I'd planted the spring Lily learned to walk. And on the soaking lawn, dumped in black trash bags, was my entire life. My clothes. My books. Lily's baby blanket, half-soaked in a puddle. I made Sebastian wait in the car. "This is mine to face." "I'm right here," he said. "One word, and I'm out." I walked up the path. The key didn't work. They'd already changed the locks. The door swung open anyway. Brooke stood there in my white silk robe. The one Grant bought me for our fifth anniversary. She was sipping coffee from my favorite mug. And around her neck, glinting against her skin, was a small gold locket. My mother's locket. The only thing I had left of her. "Oh," Brooke said sweetly. "You're here for the trash? Grant said you'd come crawling." "Take off my mother's necklace." "This?" She touched it and smiled. "Grant gave it to me. He said you wouldn't need nice things where you're going." Diane appeared behind her, holding a pair of rubber gloves like a woman on a mission. "Nora. You're dripping on the step. Collect your bags and go." "Where's Grant?" "Right here." He came down the stairs in a new suit, adjusting his cufflinks. He didn't even look surprised. "Good. You saved me a trip. My lawyer filed this morning. I'm seeking full custody of Lily." The rain suddenly felt very far away. "You can't be serious." "Think about it, Nora." He spoke slowly, like I was stupid. "You have no job. No home. No money. No family. You walked out of a company event and vanished with my kid. What judge gives a child to a woman like that?" Behind him, Brooke held up her phone. The little red light was blinking. She was recording. "Smile," she said. "My followers are going to love this." "Lily is six," I said, my voice shaking. "She needs her mother." "She needs stability," Grant said. "Brooke will be a great stepmother. And my son will need a big sister around." Something hot and black rose in my throat. I stepped forward. Brooke flinched. I reached out, unclasped the locket from her neck, and closed it in my fist. "Hey!" she shrieked. "Grant, she assaulted me! Did you see that?" "Touch her again," Grant said, "and I'll have you arrested." "It's my mother's," I said quietly. "You gave a dead woman's necklace to your mistress. Remember that, Grant. Someday you're going to wish you'd remembered." He laughed. He actually laughed. "You know what happens Monday, Nora? I meet the owner of this company. The mystery shareholder. Nobody's seen them in years. I'll be ratified as CEO, and after that, I'll have more power than you'll ever see in your pathetic little life." He leaned in close, his breath smelling like my coffee. "Nobody will ever choose you over me. Not a judge. Not a boss. Not even your own daughter, once she's old enough to see what you are." I stared at him. The man I'd built a life for. The man I'd loved with everything I had. And I smiled. It wasn't a sad smile. It wasn't a broken one. It was the smile my grandmother wears right before she buys your company. "Good luck Monday, Grant," I said. I turned and walked back down the path. I picked up Lily's wet baby blanket from the puddle and held it to my chest. That night, Brooke's video hit two million views. "When your husband's ex can't take a hint," she'd captioned it. Laughing emojis. Thousands of comments calling me pathetic, desperate, a psycho. Sebastian found me in the kitchen at midnight, still scrolling. "Stop reading," he said gently, taking my phone. "They think I'm nothing." "Let them." He placed a cup of tea in front of me. "Monday, nine a.m. Boardroom on the forty-second floor. Your seat's already waiting." "And Grant?" Sebastian's green eyes glinted. "Grant's seat," he said, "is next to the door."