Chapter 3

By Thursday morning, Adrian had discovered that I had canceled the final scheduled payment to Blake Horizon.

He finally returned to the house where we had lived for six years.

It was his first time coming back since his mistress delivered the divorce papers.

A small, pathetic part of me thought he might offer an excuse. He might try to explain.

Instead, he pushed the front door open, kicked it shut, and glared at me.

"How long are you going to throw this tantrum?" Adrian demanded.

He did not look like a man who just destroyed his family.

He looked like a CEO dealing with a minor inconvenience.

"The final payment to Blake Horizon failed this morning," he said, loosening his expensive tie. "The board will review the company’s accounts before tomorrow night. Put the money back."

"The board expects clean records and a signed waiver before the handover," Adrian said. "You are creating a problem over money I am already offering to return."

I sat at the cheap dining table.

I looked at the man I had loved for six years.

"You lied to me," I said softly. "You stole from my mother’s house to fund your company."

Adrian sighed loudly.

He walked over and leaned against the counter. "I didn't steal. I survived a business test. And now, you need to cooperate."

He pulled out his phone and tapped the screen.

"Owen loves the estate," Adrian said smoothly.

His voice dropped into a subtle, dangerous threat. "He is already adapting. If you sign the waiver quietly, we can co-parent. If you make a scandal, my family will get involved."

He paused, letting the threat hang in the air.

"The Blake family has the best lawyers in the country, Lena. Do you really want a judge to compare your waitress salary to my billion-dollar trust fund? Do you want to risk losing custody completely?"

He wasn't fighting for our son. He was using our son as a weapon to force my signature.

My hands curled into fists under the table, my nails digging into my palms until it hurt.

"When did you start preparing Owen’s room at the mansion?"

Adrian frowned. "What does that matter?"

"Answer me," I said. "When did you start building your new life?"

He crossed his arms, showing not a single trace of shame.

"A year ago. The test was entering its final phase, and I had to face reality."

"Reality?"

"You are a good woman, Lena," he said."But you are not fit to be the wife of the Blake heir. I need a woman who understands high society, who can host board dinners, and who doesn't panic over the price of groceries."

A year ago.

He decided to throw me away a year ago.

He let me work double shifts. He let me cry over the electric bill. He watched me bleed for a debt that did not exist, all while he planned his glamorous future with Camille.

Any remaining trace of love I had for this man instantly turned to ash.

Adrian reached into his jacket.

He pulled out a checkbook. He wrote down a number, ripped the check out, and placed it on the table.

$1,000,000.

"Camille offered you a settlement. I am doubling it," Adrian said. "One million dollars. That returns every dollar you paid. Take it, sign the waiver, and stop interfering with tomorrow’s handover."

I stared at the check.

He wasn't compensating me. He had calculated exactly how much money he tricked out of me over six years. He was just returning the stolen funds to buy my silence.

He priced my youth, my loyalty, and my suffering at exactly one million dollars.

"Sign the waiver," Adrian ordered. "Bring it to the ceremony tomorrow night, or I will use every resource my family has to take Owen from you."

He turned and walked out.

The door slammed behind him.

I did not touch the check.

Instead, I opened my laptop and gathered everything into one file:

the transfers into Blake Horizon, the mortgage on my mother’s house, and six years of emails in which Adrian warned me about creditors that did not exist.

I called my lawyer, Maya.

"Maya, file the emergency request," I said. "Stop Adrian from handing Blake Horizon to his family tomorrow."

"We are not asking the judge to decide who owns the entire company tomorrow," Maya said. "We are only asking the judge to pause the handover until the money is investigated."

"Will that stop the inheritance ceremony?"

"Yes. Adrian must hand over Blake Horizon before the board releases his inheritance shares."

"Do it," I replied. "Tomorrow night, he will walk onto that stage expecting his inheritance. Then he will learn the company cannot be handed over."

---

By Thursday night, the Blake family officially published the seating chart for the inheritance ceremony in the society newsletter.

Camille Royce’s name was printed in bold at the top as the partner of the incoming heir, while my name was buried at the very bottom of the last page under guests.

My phone vibrated with a text from Maya: The emergency request has been filed. The judge will decide before tomorrow night whether Adrian can transfer Blake Horizon.

Adrian believed he would hand over Blake Horizon tomorrow night and walk away with the Blake family fortune.

He did not know a judge was about to decide whether he could hand over the company at all.