Chapter 4
Series 1 Chapter 4
Three days later, I reached the Bellmere Grand Hotel before Tristan and Lydia.
The private Glass House verification meeting was being held in a conference room off the main ballroom.
Two investors, a producer, and the project administrator were already inside.
Evelyn had submitted my evidence that morning.
I waited behind the half-open door as Tristan and Lydia approached.
Lydia wore the purple dress from their messages. Tristan walked beside her with one hand against her lower back.
The same hand that had tried to pull me into his arms three nights earlier.
They entered the conference room together.
“We’re here to confirm Lydia Hale as the lead screenwriter,” Tristan said.
The administrator checked the file.
“I’m sorry. We can’t approve Ms. Hale as the sole writer.”
Tristan frowned. “Why not?”
“Another writer submitted dated drafts that predate Ms. Hale’s involvement.”
Lydia’s smile disappeared.
“That’s impossible.”
The administrator placed my earliest draft on the table.
Written by Vesper Vance.
Tristan stared at the title page.
“Who submitted this?”
I opened the door.
“I did.”
Every face in the room turned toward me.
Lydia went pale. “Vesper?”
I placed my handwritten notes and original emails beside the draft.
“I came to stop you from presenting my work under her name.”
Lydia stepped forward. “I worked on Glass House too.”
“You changed a few lines in a pitch deck.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“No. Taking my screenplay isn’t fair.”
Tristan lowered his voice. “Withdraw the complaint.”
“Why?”
“You could cost the studio millions.”
“Then you should have kept my name on my work.”
Lydia’s eyes filled with tears.
“You already have a reputation. Why can’t you let me have one opportunity?”
“One opportunity?”
I looked at her purple dress.
“Was stealing my screenplay part of the location meeting, or did that come after you checked into the room you booked with my husband?”
The investors exchanged glances.
Lydia looked at Tristan.
He stepped between us.
“Enough. Apologize to her.”
“You want the truth to apologize to the lie?”
“She kept the studio running while you stayed home feeling sorry for yourself.”
“I was undergoing IVF.”
“I never forced you.”
My fingers tightened around the folder.
He had held my hands after the second failure and asked me to try again.
Now he stood beside another woman and denied that the choice had ever been his.
“At least Lydia still has a future,” he snapped. “You’ve spent two years failing at everything—your career, our marriage, even giving us a child.”
The room went silent.
“I endured three failed IVF cycles trying to give you a family,” I said. “You used the last one to take my work and hand it to your mistress.”
The slap came before I saw his hand rise.
My head snapped sideways.
Someone gasped.
Tristan stared at his hand.
“Vesper, I—”
I photographed the red mark forming across my cheek and sent it to Evelyn.
Then I removed my wedding ring.
Tristan’s face changed.
“What are you doing?”
I placed the ring beside the screenplay carrying Lydia’s name.
“You wanted my name out of your studio. Now I’m taking it out of your life.”
“Vesper, don’t do this here.”
I looked around the room.
Everyone was watching.
“That was your mistake,” I said. “You thought I would keep protecting you in private.”
I picked up my evidence folder.
“My lawyer will send you the papers tomorrow.”
“What lawyer?”
I held his gaze.
“My divorce lawyer.”
His face lost its color.
“I want a divorce.”
Then I turned and walked out.