Chapter 1

My husband, Dalton, publicly humiliated me for the tenth time, flaunting his pregnant mistress, Justine, at a conference for the company I built. I was trapped, paying for my mother' s endless medical bills.

But then Justine took it a step further. She went to my mother' s hospital and cruelly told her everything-all the affairs, all my sacrifices. My mother, in her despair, jumped from the rooftop.

At the funeral, Justine crashed the service with a brass band, showering my mother' s casket with confetti.

"She's just trying to be thoughtful!" Dalton yelled, shielding her as I lunged forward in a blind rage.

He shoved me back, his eyes blazing. "Don't you dare touch her! She's carrying my child!"

He raised his hand to strike me, and I braced for the impact, my world completely shattered.

But the blow never landed.

A chillingly calm, powerful voice cut through the chaos.

"I wouldn't advise that, Dalton."

My estranged, billionaire father had just arrived.

Chapter 1

Blake Gibson POV:

Dalton Anderson' s voice, smug and dripping with false concern, sliced through the air. It was the tenth time this year I' d been publicly humiliated by his affairs, but this time felt different.

"Blake, darling, you look a little... tired," he said, loud enough for the entire tech conference to hear. He draped an arm around Justine Farley, his VP of Marketing, who was beaming beside him. Her hand rested possessively on her visibly pregnant belly.

My jaw clenched. I could feel every eye in the room on me.

"Perhaps the long hours are finally catching up," Justine purred, her eyes glinting with malicious satisfaction. She was holding a mock-up of the new product, the one I had designed, and casually gesturing to it as if it were her own.

Dalton chuckled, a sound that always grated on my nerves. "She does work hard. But someone has to keep the company afloat, wouldn't you agree, Justine?"

A hush fell over the crowd. They all knew I was the real architect of Elysian Dynamics. They also knew about Dalton' s endless parade of mistresses.

I just smiled, a thin, brittle thing that didn't reach my eyes. "Indeed, Dalton. Someone always has to clean up the messes."

My words hung in the air, a subtle barb that only Dalton seemed to catch. His smile faltered for a second, then he recovered.

"Well, speaking of cleaning up, why don't you head home, Blake? Get some rest. Justine and I can handle the rest of the presentation." He waved a dismissive hand, as if I were a bothersome fly.

The dismissal cut deeper than any insult. This was my company. My creation.

But I simply nodded. "As you wish, Dalton." I turned, my heels clicking loudly on the polished floor, a deliberate, defiant rhythm.

My mind raced. This was it. The breaking point. My mother' s medical bills had been a cage, but that cage was about to shatter.

I pulled out my phone, my fingers flying across the screen. A single, encrypted message sent. Operation Phoenix was initiated.

Later that evening, as I walked into our penthouse apartment, Dalton was already there. He sat on the sofa, a small, brightly wrapped box on the coffee table.

"Blake, you're home," he said, a forced cheerfulness in his voice. "I bought you something."

He pushed the box towards me. It was a necklace. A delicate silver chain with a small, generic heart pendant.

I picked it up, my fingers cold around the metal. It was the same necklace he' d given his last three mistresses. I recognized the cheap design.

"Always so thoughtful," I said, my voice flat. My other hand reached into my briefcase, pulling out a thick manila envelope.

He frowned. "What's that?"

I tossed it onto the coffee table. It landed with a soft thud. "Divorce papers."

His eyes widened, then narrowed. He stared at the documents, then back at me, a flicker of something close to panic in his gaze.

"What is this, Blake?" His voice was low, dangerous. "Some kind of joke?"

"Do I look like I'm joking, Dalton?" I asked, my voice as steady as stone.

He slammed his hand on the table, making the necklace jump. "After everything? After all I' ve done for you? For your mother?"

"You mean, after all I' ve done for you?" I countered, my voice rising slightly. "After I built your empire, sacrificed my career, my sanity, to keep your name respectable while you paraded your conquests around like trophies?"

He stood up, his face reddening. "Don't you dare talk to me like that! You wouldn't be anything without me! Your mother would be dead in a ditch without my money!"

A cold laugh escaped me. "My mother is not your bargaining chip anymore, Dalton. She's recovering. Better than ever, in fact." Lies. All lies. But he didn't need to know that. Not yet.

"Sign the papers, Dalton. It's over."

His eyes were blazing now. "You think you can just walk away? You think I'll let you take half of my company?"

"It's our company, Dalton. And you won't be getting half. You'll be getting what I decide you deserve. Which, currently, is very little."

He lunged for me, grabbing my arm. His grip was bruising. "You manipulative bitch! You think I don't know what you're doing? Setting up your sick mother as an excuse, then trying to steal everything!"

I didn't flinch. My gaze was steady, piercing his. "Let go of me, Dalton. Or you'll regret it."

"Oh, I'll regret it?" he sneered. "What are you going to do? Tell your rich daddy? The one who abandoned you and your mother when you needed him most?"

My breath hitched. He knew exactly where to strike. The wound was still raw.

"You won't get a dime, Blake. Not a single penny if you try to leave me. And your mother? She'll be back in that hospital bed faster than you can blink." His words were venom, aimed directly at my greatest vulnerability.

My hand still clutched the cheap necklace. I looked at the heart pendant, then at him. He truly believed he had me trapped. He had no idea the trap was actually for him.

"You really think you still have that kind of power over me, Dalton?" I asked, a dangerous calm settling over me. "You think you know all my secrets?"

He scoffed. "Every single one, Blake. You're an open book."

I smiled, a genuine, chilling smile this time. "Then you clearly haven't been reading carefully enough, Dalton. Because you just missed the most important chapter."