Chapter 2 2

The next morning, the sky was a bruised purple, clearing after the storm. Eliana did not wake up in the Vargas estate. She hadn't slept there. She had slept in a small, sterile room at a private club in Manhattan, one that required a retinal scan to enter.

She wore a beige trench coat over a simple white blouse and trousers. She drove a nondescript Audi sedan, a car she had bought with cash two years ago and kept parked three blocks from the estate.

She pulled up to a brownstone on the Upper East Side. There was no sign on the door, just a brass number plate.

She buzzed. The door clicked open.

Inside, the office smelled of old books and expensive coffee. Talia Winters sat behind a mahogany desk that was cluttered with files. Talia was sharp-featured, with a bob cut that looked like it could slice paper. She was the best divorce attorney in the city, and she was Eliana's only friend.

Talia looked up and whistled.

"You look like a spy," Talia said.

Eliana took off her sunglasses. Her eyes were rimmed with red, not from crying, but from lack of sleep. She sat down and placed her leather bag on the floor.

"Draft it," Eliana said. "I'm done."

Talia didn't blink. She reached into a drawer and pulled out a thick folder.

"I've had this ready for six months, Eliana. You know that."

Talia opened the folder.

"We go for half," Talia said, uncapping a pen. "The pre-nup has a cheating clause. If we can prove emotional infidelity-which, given the photos from the funeral yesterday, is a slam dunk-we can pierce the trust."

"No," Eliana said.

Talia paused. "What?"

"I don't want his money," Eliana said. Her voice was quiet but hard. "I don't want the estate. I don't want the stocks. I want out. Clean break. Immediately."

Talia dropped the pen. "Eliana, you spent three years playing the dutiful wife to that man-child. You were his nurse, his PR manager, his emotional punching bag. You earned that payout."

Eliana reached into her bag and pulled out a sealed medical envelope. She slid it across the desk.

Talia frowned. "What is this?"

"Open it."

Talia ripped the seal. She scanned the document. It was a gynecological report from a top specialist, dated yesterday.

Talia's eyes widened. She looked up, her mouth slightly open.

"Intact?" Talia whispered. "You... after three years?"

Eliana leaned back in the chair. "He wanted to save himself for her. He told me on our wedding night. He said the marriage was just business, a merger between his father and the board. He said he wouldn't dishonor his memory of Nina-that's what he calls Felicity-by sleeping with me."

Talia slammed the file shut. "That son of a bitch. That is constructive abandonment. That is fraud. We can destroy him. We can make him pay until he bleeds."

"No," Eliana said. She leaned forward, her hands clasping together. "Listen to me, Talia. The Santos family is looking for me."

The air in the room changed. Talia went rigid.

"My grandmother's private investigators were spotted near the clinic last week," Eliana continued. "If I drag this out with a messy divorce trial, if my face is on the cover of the tabloids fighting for money, the Santos family will find me. They will drag me back. And you know what that means."

Talia swallowed. She knew. She was the only one who knew.

Eliana took a breath. "I need speed. I need Hayes to sign a waiver of contest. I need him to think he's winning. If I ask for nothing, if I leave with just my clothes, his ego will let me go. He thinks I'm helpless. He thinks I'll come crawling back."

Talia looked at the medical report, then at Eliana's determined face. She sighed, a long, defeated sound.

"Fine," Talia said. "I'll draft the 'Decoy' agreement. Mutual separation, no alimony, no asset division. It's the worst deal in history."

"It's the price of freedom," Eliana said.

Her phone buzzed on the desk. A text from Hayes.

Family dinner tonight. Don't be late.

Eliana stared at the screen. She typed: Received. Then she deleted the message.

She stood up. "Have it ready by tomorrow."

Eliana drove back to the estate. She parked the Audi three blocks away, walked to the service entrance, and slipped into the house.

She changed into one of the pastel dresses Hayes liked-something soft, unthreatening. She walked down the grand staircase.

She stopped on the landing.

The main living room, a space Eliana had curated with minimalist, elegant art, was in chaos.

Movers were hauling out the abstract sculptures she had commissioned. In their place, they were hanging large, garish photographs in cheap, colorful plastic frames.

The photos were everywhere. Felicity and Leo at the beach. Felicity and Leo at Disney World. Felicity and Leo baking cookies.

It looked like a shrine.

Felicity was standing in the center of the room, pointing at the mantle.

"No, move that vase," she instructed a worker. "It blocks the picture of Leo's first tooth."

Eliana walked down the remaining steps. Her heels clicked on the marble.

Felicity turned. Her face lit up with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"Oh! Eliana!" Felicity clapped her hands. "I hope you don't mind. I just felt this place was so... cold. It needed some life. Some family energy."

Eliana looked at the wall where her favorite painting, a moody seascape, used to hang. It was now occupied by a blown-up photo of Leo eating spaghetti.

"Taste is subjective, I suppose," Eliana said. "Though some things are objectively loud."

Felicity's smile faltered. She bit her lip, her eyes instantly filling with tears.

"I just wanted to make it nice..."

Hayes walked in from the library. He saw Felicity's face and immediately stepped between the two women.

"Eliana," Hayes warned. "Felicity is a guest. Can you try, for once, to be gracious?"

Eliana looked at him. He was wearing a casual sweater, looking every bit the suburban dad he pretended to be with Felicity.

"A guest?" Eliana asked. "Then why is she redecorating the host's home?"

Hayes's jaw tightened. "This is my house, Eliana. And Felicity is trying to make it comfortable for Leo. The boy has been through enough."

Eliana looked around the room. It didn't look like a home anymore. It looked like territory that had been marked.

"You're right," Eliana said.

Hayes blinked, surprised by her capitulation.

"It is your house," she continued. "Soon, it will be entirely yours."

She turned and walked toward the stairs.

Hayes watched her go. He felt a prickle of annoyance, a strange itch at the back of his neck. Usually, she would argue. Usually, she would fight for her aesthetic.

Why did she give up so easily?

Hayes turned back to Felicity, who was sniffing bravely.

"Don't worry, honey," Hayes said, wrapping an arm around her. "She's just jealous. It looks great."