Chapter 1 - The Ring on the Marble
The wedding ring hit the marble before the wine had finished dripping off my dress.
“Get her out,” my husband told security. “She doesn't belong here anymore.”
Five hundred people had paid a fortune to attend the Wardbridge Foundation gala at the Grand Astor in Manhattan. I stood under a chandelier the size of a car, covered in red wine, while the man I'd loved for ten years pointed at the exit like I was a stranger who'd wandered in from the street.
Three minutes earlier, Vanessa Price had thrown a full glass across my chest. Now she was waving an ultrasound picture in one hand and touching her stomach with the other.
“Everett and I are having a baby,” she announced. “Grace has been threatening me because she can't give him one.”
I didn't threaten her. Until that night, I hadn't even known her name was Vanessa.
My mother-in-law, Diane, pushed forward in a silver gown. “Apologize to the mother of my grandchild,” she ordered me. “On your knees, if you have any decency left.”
I stared at Everett. He stood beside his mistress with his palm on her back, looking pleased with himself.
“Say something,” I whispered.
He did.
“You're a barren leech, Grace. You haven't built a thing in your life. You lived off me while I built an empire.”
The words hurt worse because he sounded bored. Like he'd been practicing them in the car.
Then he took off his ring and tossed it at my shoes.
A guard approached. He looked about twenty-five, with the frightened expression of a man who knew this was going to be on the news.
“Ma'am, please come with me.”
I didn't bend to retrieve the ring. I picked up my phone instead.
“Ruth,” I said when my attorney answered, “call the board. Activate the emergency investor rights. And do not tell Everett who requested it.”
Everett laughed. “Who are you calling? Your divorce lawyer?”
I looked at the man who had called himself self-made for a decade.
May you like
“Yes,” I said. “Among other people.”
My phone buzzed with a message from Ruth Calder: CHECK YOUR ACCOUNT. HE JUST MOVED FOURTEEN MILLION DOLLARS.
