Chapter 4

Bella finally came home well past midnight, smelling of wine and Julian's cologne.

She dropped her keys on the counter, humming.

"We need to talk about the divorce, Bella," I said, holding out the papers.

She glanced at them, then at me, annoyance flickering in her eyes.

"Really, Liam? Now? I just had a wonderful evening."

She walked past me towards the bedroom. "And I need to ask you for something."

I followed her. "What?"

She turned, her expression suddenly serious, almost pleading.

"It's your grandmother's locket. The sapphire one."

My grandmother' s locket.

My grandmother had given it to me just before she passed.

"It' s for the woman who truly deserves your heart, Liam," she' d said, her hand frail in mine. "And maybe, just maybe, it' ll help keep Isabella grounded if she ever gets too full of herself. She needs an anchor, that girl."

Bella had been there, heard those words. She' d wanted it then, but Nana had insisted it was for me to give.

"Why do you want it?" I asked, my voice tight.

"Julian," she began, her voice softening into that manipulative cadence she used when she wanted something badly.

"He feels a deep spiritual connection to it. He saw a picture of it once, from our wedding photos, I think. He says sapphires help with his crippling anxiety, especially when he' s trying to be creative. It calms him, helps him focus. He thinks wearing it would unlock so much for Innovatech."

Crippling anxiety. Creative blocks.

The man whose biggest contribution so far was a new espresso machine for his office.

"He needs it, Liam. For his work. For the company."

She saw the look on my face.

"If you give it to me, for him," she said, her eyes gleaming, "I' ll reinstate your team' s bonuses. All of them. And yours. Consider it a... gesture of goodwill."

Bribing me with my own team's stolen money, for my grandmother's locket, to soothe her boy toy's fake anxiety.

The sheer audacity of it was breathtaking.

"No," I said.

"No?" Her voice rose.

"The locket is not for him. And it's not for sale."

I held up the papers again. "I' ve filed for divorce, Bella. We meet with the lawyers on Friday to sign. Be there."

Her face hardened. "You' re making a mistake, Liam. A huge one."

"The mistake was thinking you ever valued anything beyond what benefited you in the moment."

I turned and walked out, leaving her standing there, the demand for the locket hanging in the air like a bad smell.

She didn't understand. She thought this was a negotiation.

It was an ending.