"That bitch!" Annalise Maxwell shrieked, her perfectly made-up face twisted into a mask of rage. On the oversized television screen, an entertainment news anchor was breathlessly announcing Cordelia's latest move.

"In a shocking turn of events, socialite Cordelia Hamilton, wife of billionaire Chandler Hamilton, will be joining the cast of the upcoming reality series, 'The Hamiltons Unfiltered,' and she's bringing her six-year-old son, Case, with her."

Annalise's fingers, tipped with blood-red nails, stabbed at her phone screen, dialing a number she knew by heart.

"Did she get the money from Hamilton yet?" Chace Mack's voice was strained, laced with a desperate edge. "My credit lines are frozen, and I've heard whispers about the SEC. Without a capital injection, I'll be completely wiped out, Annalise. I could even face prison."

"Money?" Annalise laughed, a sharp, ugly sound. "Forget the money. She's busy planning her comeback tour on national television. She's playing the victim card, Chace. The devoted mother trying to fix her broken family."

She explained the news, her voice dripping with venom. "If she pulls this off, if she actually makes the public feel sorry for her, Chandler might take her back. And then where does that leave us? Where does that leave you?"

The silence on the other end of the line was heavy. Then, Chace's voice came back, low and dangerous. "Then we can't let her succeed. We have to destroy her on that show. Remind everyone what a pathetic, obsessed train wreck she really is."

"I've already thought of that," Annalise said, a smug smile returning to her lips. "My father has a stake in the production company. I'm joining the cast. As the supportive, worried older sister, of course."

They spent the next ten minutes plotting, their words weaving a web of deceit. Annalise would be the inside woman, creating drama, subtly bringing up Cordelia's past, framing her as an unstable mother. Chace would work from the outside, ready to leak a carefully selected photo or a fabricated text message to the press at the perfect moment.

Before hanging up, Annalise glanced across her living room. A small, dark-haired boy was quietly playing with a set of wooden blocks.

"Ben misses you," she said into the phone, her voice softening possessively. It was a reminder of their shared secret, the one that bound them together tighter than any business deal.

A few miles away, Sloane Adler walked into Cordelia's sitting room, her face grim. She slapped a contract down on the coffee table.

"You're not going to like this," Sloane said, skipping the pleasantries. "Annalise is joining the show. Her father called the network head directly. They're spinning it as a 'sisterly reconciliation' storyline. Cordelia, this is a trap. A blatant, prime-time ambush. You need to pull out. Now."

Cordelia looked at the contract, then at Sloane's worried face. She felt a strange sense of calm. Of course Annalise was joining. In her last life, her stepsister had always been there, lurking in the shadows, whispering poison, orchestrating her downfall piece by piece.

A slow, cold smile touched Cordelia's lips.

"Good," she said, her voice so quiet it was almost a whisper. "Let her come. It's better to have your enemy where you can see them."

She picked up the pen and, with a steady hand, signed her name.

Sloane stared at her, speechless. The terrified, emotional wreck she was used to counseling was gone. In her place was a woman made of ice and steel.

After Sloane left, Cordelia's phone rang. The caller ID made her heart clench. Chandler. It was the first time he had called her since that day in the office.

She answered, her hand trembling slightly.

His voice was like a shard of glass. "I can't stop you from making a fool of yourself in public, Cordelia. But I'm warning you. If you harm Case in any way-if I see one tear in his eye that you caused-I will personally ruin you. In a way that no television show can fix."

It was a threat, pure and simple. There was no concern, no question. Only a promise of annihilation.

"I won't," she said, her own voice tight with pain. "You can watch every second of it."

She hung up, sinking back into the sofa, a wave of exhaustion washing over her.

In his sleek, top-floor office overlooking Central Park, Chandler slammed his phone down. Just then, his assistant, Alex Kent, knocked and entered.

"Sir," Alex said, his tone professional and discreet. "The preliminary financial inquiry you requested. We traced a recent flag on Mrs. Hamilton's credit file. An inquiry was made to a high-risk offshore investment firm. It's a shell corporation, but it's the same one our sources confirm Chace Mack has been using to hide his remaining assets. The inquiry itself was sophisticated, using security details that would typically require close familial access."

Chandler's blood ran cold.

He leaned back in his chair, a bitter, humorless smile twisting his lips. It all made sense. The divorce theatrics, roping Case into the reality show, even her calm acceptance of Annalise joining the cast. It was all a diversion. A massive, elaborate smoke screen to distract him while she figured out a way to funnel money to her lover.

This report was the proof. The cold, hard fact that killed any lingering shred of doubt Case's words had planted.

"Keep a close eye on her finances, Alex," Chandler said, his voice dangerously low. "And on the show. I want a live feed to my office. I want to know her every move."

He was going to watch her performance. And when she was at her highest, when she thought she had everyone fooled, he was going to be the one to burn her stage to the ground.

Chapter 3

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