er, Caspian burst through the door, still wearing t

ey

de me live like

want to

ion. She stared at him. He said I didn't

to lose a woman who never checked the accounts, never fough

" she said, "were you plan

..

work double shifts. You let me think we were building something toge

" He shook his h

arted throwing cl

here are

You have someone el

ip bruising. "I can explain. Plea

ac

free and slap

ord was a blade. "And you have

ed at his sides.

ropped to

e me. By then I'd already made mistakes-with her. I knew I couldn't hide it forever, that you'd find out eventually. B

ts trembled

at are you e

y ill. Even if that five hundred thousand had saved her, she would have spent the rest of her life wi

l

eyra struck his face th

hether she lived or died? What if it had been Xiomara's

sted Caspia

way fr

her. Caspian stayed on

around her like a vice. "Veyra, if you walk out tha

burned red. "Then

e rose. He actually turn

to

He froze, half his body already leaning into the void.

osed h

p," sh

to his feet. He was still crying.

as a mess. Tears, snot, blood from his lip. He looked like a child who had broke

said. "Anything

sit at the

y was tight. Takeout from the place that always forgot her sauce. Birthday cake t

from him with h

stnuptial agreement," she

ger. Like he thought agreeing

cheat

, Veyra, I will never ev

divorce immediately. No counseling. No second chances

d. "Five

. She had heard Xiomara talk about the villa. She knew he had more than he had ever let her see. "You sign, or I walk out that door

t white. "Yo

y m

sig

and sent it to a twenty-four-hour print shop near the apartment. The delivery took forty mi

ved, he signed every pa

with Xiomara. He transferred control of all his assets to her. He pro

n't bel

k the docum

tail he'd let slip that night - the name of the corporate account, the last four digits of an offshore number

nto the mansio

was not just a house but a monument to money she had never see

e apartment. A bedroom with a balcony that overlooked a garde

apped around herself, touching nothing, feeli

ted lunch. If she wanted him to draw her a bath. He said her name constant

answer most

by her bed every night and a rose on the pillow, and every morning she m

t in the living room with his laptop and worked from there, glan

a prisoner in

not out of weakness. She needed enough leverage before the agreement was ever put to the te

on was the only strategy s

mp, his phone buzzed on the coffee table. He wa

d have i

ked ove

Just a number

. Same pla

screen went dark, and the room settled back i

e back exactly w

the guest room, lay do

cidence. And maybe, she