Chapter 2

"Our prenuptial agreement," Averie said, her voice cutting through the silence of the empty doorway. The words felt foreign, desperate. "Article seven, section three. The infidelity clause. You walk out that door, you're in breach of contract."

It was the only weapon she had, a flimsy shield of legal jargon against the hurricane of his betrayal.The footsteps in the hallway halted.

A long, suspended silence. Then, slowly, the door swung open again. Jarett stood in the threshold, and a cold, mocking smile spread across his face. It was a terrifying sight. He walked back toward her, his steps slow and deliberate, closing the distance until he loomed over her.

"Averie," he said, his voice dangerously soft. "Did you forget whose legal team drafted that agreement?"

He reached out and tapped her forehead with his index finger. The touch was light, almost playful, but it felt like a brand of humiliation. "Do you really think that third-rate lawyer of yours could find a loophole? Go ahead. Sue me. I'd welcome it."

His eyes glinted with something cruel. "Or, you could see how long your gambling-addict father lasts without the support of the Sharp family."

The words hit her like a physical blow, knocking the air from her lungs. That was her weakest point, the raw, exposed nerve he had always known about. The reason she was in this gilded cage in the first place.

Her blood ran cold. He wasn't just her husband; he was her jailer.

He saw the terror in her eyes and seemed satisfied. The mocking smile faded, replaced by his usual mask of indifference. He turned, and this time, he didn't look back.

The heavy penthouse door slammed shut with a deafening boom that echoed through the cavernous apartment. The sound vibrated in her bones, a final, brutal punctuation mark on the end of her marriage.

Her strength gave out. Her legs buckled, and she slid down the wall to the cold marble floor. The beautiful anniversary dinner sat untouched, the candles still flickering, mocking her.

Tears finally came, hot and silent. She curled into a ball, wrapping her arms around herself, and wept for the three years she had wasted, for the fool she had been.

She didn't know how long she lay there, adrift in a sea of silent grief, when the shrill ring of her phone cut through the quiet.

For a wild, stupid moment, she thought it was Jarett. A flicker of hope she couldn't extinguish. Maybe he'd had a change of heart.

She scrambled for the phone, her hands shaking.

The screen lit up with the name "Mom."

She wiped her tears, swallowing hard to steady her voice. "Mom? It's late. Is everything okay?"

A choked, frantic sob came from the other end of the line, mixed with the chaotic background noise of a hospital. "Averie! You have to get to Mount Sinai! It's your father... your father..."

Brenda Boggs was hysterical. "He lost big, got into a fight... his heart... Oh, God, Averie, he had a heart attack! They have him in the emergency room!"

Averie's mind went blank. Her husband's betrayal, now this. The two pillars of her miserable life were crumbling at the same time.

"The doctor says it's bad," Brenda wailed. "He needs surgery, right now! But... but they need a deposit first! A huge one!"

The words snapped Averie out of her stupor. She shot up from the floor, a new, cold terror replacing the grief. She grabbed her car keys and her purse from the hall table.

She didn't even bother to change out of her silk dress. She just ran, her mind consumed by a single, desperate thought: save her father.