Chapter 2 No.2

The cursor on the screen blinked. A rhythmic, mocking pulse.

Florrie sat at her glass desk, the ergonomic chair adjusted to its highest setting. Her posture was rigid. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard of her MacBook Pro.

Spreadsheet: Project Severance.

Column A: Item. Column B: Cost. Column C: Emotional Multiplier.

She typed into the first row: Wedding Cancellation Fee.

Under cost, she entered: $5,000,000.00.

It was an arbitrary number, technically. But in the economy of heartbreak, it felt like a discount.

Her mind flashed back. Not to the proposal in Paris, or the nights spent whispering in bed. Those memories were useless now. They were depreciating assets.

Instead, her mind went to the basement.

She was nine. The darkness smelled of mildew and old cardboard. Deirdre had locked her in because Florrie had "looked at Asia with malice." Florrie hadn't. She had just been looking at Asia's new doll, the one Florrie's father, Arlin, had brought back from London.

Don't cry, she had told herself then, hugging her knees to her chest. Crying makes you thirsty. And they won't bring you water.

She shook her head, physically dispelling the memory. She focused on the screen.

Row 2: Public Humiliation & Reputation Damage.

Cost: Full and immediate return of the Jefferson Maternal Trust.

She knew the Travis family managed the trust her mother had left her, a portfolio of blue-chip stocks and real estate that they'd always treated as their own slush fund. Reclaiming it would be a direct hit to their liquid assets.

Cherry walked into the room. She was holding a crystal tumbler filled with amber liquid, but her hands were shaking so much the ice clinked against the glass like a wind chime.

"Miss Jefferson," Cherry whispered. "The florist called. And the caterer. They saw the news online. They want to know if they should cancel the orders."

Florrie took the glass without looking up. The whiskey burned her throat, a grounding fire.

"Do not cancel anything," Florrie said. "Tell them to keep the invoices open. Tell them to bill the Travis Family Estate directly. Send the receipts to Genevieve Travis's personal email."

Cherry's eyes widened. "To his mother?"

"She likes to micromanage," Florrie said, typing furiously. "Let her manage the cost of her son's betrayal."

She swiveled her chair toward the wall behind her desk. It was a gallery of framed photographs. Florrie and Boston in Aspen. Florrie and Boston at the Met Gala. Florrie and Boston laughing on a yacht in St. Tropez.

They looked happy. They looked perfect.

It was all a lie.

Florrie stood up. She walked to the wall and took down the center frame-a black and white portrait of them kissing in the rain. She remembered that day. She had stood in that rain for three hours waiting for a client Boston needed to sign, holding a folder under her coat to keep it dry. When Boston arrived, he hadn't thanked her. He had kissed her for the camera, then complained that her hair was frizzy.

She carried the frame to the heavy-duty shredder in the corner of the office.

She didn't bother to remove the photo from the frame. She smashed the glass against the edge of the metal bin. Crash.

Shards of glass rained into the wastebasket. She pulled the photo out, shaking off the fragments.

She fed the glossy paper into the machine.

Whirrrrrr.

The sound of Boston's smiling face being sliced into confetti was the most satisfying thing she had heard all day.

Her phone buzzed again. A text message.

Deirdre Navarro (Stepmom):

I hope you're not going to make this difficult, Florence. Asia is very fragile. We need the beach house for her recovery after the wedding. Please have your things moved out by the weekend. We are all praying for you to find peace.

Florrie stared at the screen. The audacity was breathtaking. It was almost art.

Praying for you.

Florrie didn't reply. She took a screenshot. She saved it to a folder named Evidence.

She walked back to the safe. There was one more thing in there. Something she rarely touched. Something she had almost forgotten she possessed.

She reached into the deepest recess of the steel box and pulled out a small, velvet pouch. It was navy blue, the fabric worn with age.

Inside was a locket. Not a grand piece of jewelry, but a simple, silver oval. It had been her mother's. Inside, a tiny, faded photograph of a smiling woman holding a baby-her. Finnegan Puckett had found it in the grass after the accident that day, pressing it into her bloody palm. "Keep this," he had said, his voice cracking with a fear she had never heard from him since. "So you know who you are."

She hadn't seen Finnegan in years. He was a ghost from a different life, a world away. But she kept the locket. Not as a token of affection, but as insurance. A reminder that once, someone had valued her existence.

She put the locket back. She didn't need a ghost today. She needed herself.

She sat back down at the computer. She opened a new document.

SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT

She typed rapidly. She wasn't just asking for money. She was asking for blood.

Clause 4: Real Estate Transfer.

The property located at 44 Dune Road, Hamptons, NY, shall be transferred solely to Florence Jefferson.

The beach house.

It was Asia's favorite place in the world. It was where Asia planned to spend her "honeymoon."

Taking it would hurt more than taking Boston's money. It would take away their sanctuary.

The printer whirred to life, spitting out the pages. Florrie grabbed a Montblanc pen. She signed her name at the bottom. Her signature was sharp, jagged, aggressive.

"Cherry," Florrie called out. "Get Boston's assistant on the phone. Tell him I have a package for Boston to pick up."

"He... he's coming here?" Cherry asked, looking terrified.

"He'll come," Florrie said, capping the pen. "He'll think it's the ring. But he'll stay for the negotiation. He can't resist the illusion of control."

"But... what if he brings...?"

"His mother?" Florrie finished. "Oh, he will. Genevieve never misses a chance to inspect a disaster site."

Florrie stood up. She looked down at her silk pajamas.

"I need to change."

She walked into her dressing room. She bypassed the flowy, pastel dresses Boston liked. She went to the back of the closet.

She pulled out a black Alexander McQueen suit. Sharp shoulders. Tailored waist. Pants that fell in a straight, severe line.

She changed. She pulled her hair back into a tight, high ponytail. It pulled the skin of her face taut, making her look severe.

She applied lipstick. Not pink. Not nude.

Blood Red.

She looked like a widow who had killed her husband and was on her way to collect the insurance money.

A low growl came from the corner of the room.

Buster, her Doberman, stood up. His ears were perked, his muscles rippling under his sleek black coat. He sensed the shift in her energy. He walked over and pressed his head against her thigh.

Florrie rested her hand on his head. "You ready, boy?"

Buster let out a short bark.

The intercom buzzed.

Florrie walked to the monitor on the wall. The camera showed the lobby entrance.

Boston was there. He looked impeccable in a charcoal suit, though his face was tight with annoyance. Beside him stood Genevieve Travis. She was wearing pearls and a look of supreme distaste, as if the air in Florrie's building was contaminated.

Florrie pressed the talk button.

"Send them up," she said.

She turned to the living room. She placed the Settlement Agreement in the center of the coffee table.

She sat down on the sofa, crossed her legs, and waited.

The elevator chimed.