Chapter 1
Leon Stone pushed the divorce agreement in front of me.
The air conditioner in the family court was blowing too hard. The cold air crept through my collar. My fingertips went numb, yet the hand holding the pen remained remarkably steady.
The time screen on the wall flickered, like a countdown for this marriage.
"Sign it, Nina," Leon said. "I'll have accounting send the money you want to you. The house and the car are mine. As for the rest, you can't take it anyway."
I looked up at him.
After three years of marriage, he was still immaculate, almost flawlessly so. In a dark gray suit, tie perfectly straight, he showed no excess emotion in his eyes.
He was like a block of ice, too cold to bother melting.
His mother, Margaret Stone, sat to the side, muttering under her breath, "The marriage used to be a luck for you two, so leaving should also be done with dignity.
"Nina, don't tarnish the Stone family name. Leave the house keys behind. And take that cat with you. It has too much fur. That's filthy."
I didn't speak. I stared at the signature line on the last page of the agreement.
As the pen's ink touched the paper, I heard the string inside me that had been stretched taut for three years finally snap.
*****
"Nina." Leon frowned. "Why aren't you saying anything?"
I gave a small smile, flipped the signed papers back, and slid them over to him. "What should I say? Wish you and Susan White a lifetime of happiness?"
Margaret's face darkened instantly. "Why bring her up? The Stone family owes Susan a lot. Don't act like you've been wronged. You were—"
"Just a stand-in, right?" I cut her off, my voice calm, like I was reading lines from a script that had nothing to do with me.
I said, "She was overseas for three years, and I was the one sitting at your dinner table, going to your parties, staying up all night when your son was sick.
"You were with me, Nina, but in your hearts, you hope you were with Susan."
Leon's frown deepened, like I'd hit a nerve he didn't want to admit. "Don't talk nonsense."
"Am I making things up?" I looked down, lightly tapping the papers with my finger. "Then why did you give me a necklace with a 'W' on it for our wedding anniversary?"
He didn't say a word. His silence was all the answer I needed.
I stood up, the chair scraping harshly against the tile floor. The family court lobby was buzzing with people, and the divorce line was always busier than the marriage line.
Some people were crying, some were arguing, and some were holding their kids while cursing their ex-husbands. But where I sat, it felt like my world had gone silent.
I took the house keys out of my bag and set them gently on the table.
"I'm taking the cat," I said. "It sheds a lot and gets dirty because it's always losing fur with the seasons, like me. When it's time for a change, I should move on."
Margaret scoffed. "You think Leon will regret it when you leave? Who do you think you are?"
I didn't look back.
As I walked out of the family court building, rain was coming down outside.
Raindrops hit the steps, splashing up little sprays of white. The air was thick with the smell of wet earth, a scent that felt more like real life than any of the Stone family's fancy diffusers.
I had opened my umbrella when a black Maybach rolled up slowly to the curb.
The door opened, and instead of the driver, a middle-aged man in a dark trench coat stepped out.
He walked over, holding an umbrella, his voice respectful, almost formal. "Ms. Grant, Mr. Grant sent us to bring you home."
My hand froze for a moment on the umbrella handle.
Behind me, Leon stopped in his tracks.
He walked down the steps, rain soaking his suit shoulders, but he didn't seem to notice. His eyes locked onto the license plate.
That was a plate everyone in the city's elite circle recognized instantly.
"Nina," Leon said, his voice wavering for the first time. "You..."
I turned around and gave him a small smile.
"Mr. Stone," I said, slipping the divorce papers into my bag, my voice barely more than a whisper, light as the rain outside. "From now on, there's nothing between us."