Chapter 5

With counsel in the room, Michael's bruised ego wouldn't let him beg. Humiliation quickly turned into cheap intimidation. "What do you think walking away gets you, Charlotte? You haven't held a job in years. At thirty, a divorce leaves you with zero prospects."

"I don't care," I answered coldly. "Twenty-year-old me had nothing to my name either."

At twenty, all I had was my ambition and my own two feet. He was never part of that foundation. At thirty, my spine was still intact, and I feared nothing.

My resolve backed Michael into a corner. Out of leverage, he threw…