The Prenup: My Billion Dollar Weapon

nd built an empire for, was forcing me to kneel on f

nfluencer named Kassie, who had moved into our

torturing him over his hobby of building birdhouses, t

for dead in the path of a

o be mauled, I realized the man I l

forgotten: the ironclad prenup that gave me a controlling interest in his billion-dollar company

pte

Palme

uilt an empire for, was forcing me to kneel on a bag of

t-four frame casting a long shadow in the pristine, white-on-white kitchen of our Silicon Valley mansion.

t him. Not

hian mountain road. He' d had nothing but a half-baked tech idea and a death wish. My father, Alph, and I had pulled him from the wrecka

anger, was a creation. His creator

ith millions of followers who hung on her every sanctimonious word. Fitzgerald had met her at a tech conference

site that was devouri

wool. And absolutely, positively, no animal products in the house. Our home, once filled with the smells o

s I' d endured to help build his company, Nexus Corp, couldn' t handle the abrupt, rad

finger and sworn he would spend his life repaying me for saving his. This morning, a wave of defiant nos

seen me. And she

pants, a biting, painful ache that spread from my knees up my thighs.

nook. She was perched on a stool, filming the whole thing on her phone, a small, cruel smile playing on her perfectly pl

zgerald. My eyes were a silent plea. F

blue eyes that had once looked at me with such raw gr

a warning. "She is trying to teach you. To elevate you.

ting to go numb, the pain turni

"Kassie is the future. Her values are my values. If you want to re

as trapped in my throat,

od up and looked at the housekeeper, a woman whose childr

manded. "If she moves before it goe

houlders. He kissed her temple, a gesture of affection so public

ital timer on the counter. The first second ticked by with an audible click

stayed not out of obedience, but out of a desperate, foolish hop

in his retirement hobby: building intricate, beautiful birdhouses. He had a chronic heart conditi

raight to voicemail. I had been frantic, calling the police, call

d up a hand. "I' ll handle it, Adella. I have resourc

es, the tech billionaire who controlled everything, was my only hope of finding my father. I had to believe he would f

d weights I could barely feel. The housekeeper, avoiding my eyes, helped me to my

itzgerald. I snatched it up, my he

pped and devoid of emotion. "I' m send

it made me dizzy. "Oh, thank God

car, Adella." T

tark, windowless warehouse on the industrial outskirts of the city. The kind of pl

his arms crossed over his chest. Kassie stood

, Fitz? Where

down a long, sterile corridor. The air was frigid, humming with the

en I s

, the same hands that had taught me to ride a bike and had built hundreds of delicate birdhouses, were bound behind

lay one of his beautiful bi

ord was a stra

onfusion. "Adella? Honey, I don' t know wh

n' t know I possessed surging through me.

He just sipped from a bottle o

ping with condescending pity. "Your father is a

mprehending. "What a

o become dependent on artificial structures. It disrupts their natural migratory patterns. It' s

o profound it stole my breath. "He

head as if dealing with a difficult child. "Fitzgerald is

whose life my father had helped save. "Fitz," I begged, my voice crackin

like looking at a stranger. "He needed to understand the consequences of his

tearing from my throat. "You' re tortur

nights in our first tiny apartment, me rubbing his back as he coded, my stomach in knots from stress and cheap wine I drank at networking events to

d for

ion was a raw, open wound.

is face. "Kassie has shown me a higher path. A purer way of living

. About my father. We w

, he' d called it. He said Kassie was his soulmate, his twin flame, but that I would alway

could d

er. My menus were replaced with her plant-based edicts. My belongings were slowly moved to a smaller wing o

r away from them, if I could just appeal to that shred of humanity left

so n

but Fitzgerald grabbed my arm, his grip

my phone. He snatched it from my hand and thr

t Kassie in the face. She let out a theatrical shriek,

broke my nose

d her face in his hands, his voice thick with panic. "Baby, are you okay? Let me see. Oh, God." He gl

s if she were a fragile doll and

scrambling after them. "My father

her nose is broken, she needs a real doctor, not just your private medic. If we take her to the hospital, p

. A public incident was the o

of fury. "Fine," he spat. "Yo

wo of his security guards appeared. They

oor, my heart in

s. His face was a ghastly shade of gray. The hea

to my knees beside him, my hands hovering

rald said coldly. "They' ll take care of him. An

impersonal professionals. But as they loaded my fathe

ture at worst. This man is in cardiac arrest. We need

e. "You will take them both to my private

ould die!" the

rld collapsing around me, and his eyes were completely empty. "Adella," he said, his

im, my vision bl

day. And you will go to the police and confess. You will tell them your father got co

r' s life in exchange for m

, something inside me finally, irrevocably, snapped. All the love, the h

y' s kindness, my unwavering loyalty. I had built him an empir

ord tasting like ash in my

he ground to save my father. But as I watched them load him into the bac

Fitzgerald Jones's empire turn to dust in his h