Chapter 7
David sat there in silence, his hands gripping his hair so tight his scalp burned.
His mind was a hurricane of confusion and rage.
Emma. The same Emma who always took everything lying down, never fought back, never said a word.
The Emma that he figured would come crawling back the second he showed even a sliver of kindness.
'Who does she think she is?' The thought spiraled through his head on repeat.
She'd won the lottery. Become a millionaire. And he wasn't even the first person she told.
She walked out. Then, on live television, in front of the entire city, she made his whole family look like fools on national TV.
His chest felt like it was being devoured from the inside, a million tiny bites of regret, each one throbbing with a dull, gnawing ache.
'If I hadn't signed those papers, if I'd been better to her, if I'd told Karen to back off...' The what-ifs were a relentless assault. 'Wouldn't half of that 1.5 million be mine?'
They could be in a penthouse right now, driving something with a V12, telling his boss exactly where he could shove it. Lisa's wedding could've been the social event of the season.
But now, it was all ash in his mouth.
"This is your fault!" Lisa's voice cut through, sharp as a blade, as she unloaded on him. "If you weren't such a useless husband, if you could've actually kept your woman in line, she never would've left!
"Now look at us. That money's gone, and Mom's so worked up she's in the hospital! You happy now?"
David's head snapped up, his eyes bloodshot, wild. "Me? Weren't you grinning like an idiot when we made her sign those papers?
"And when you snatched her keys, who was the one looking down her nose at her like she was trash?"
"I..." Lisa stammered, her mouth opening and closing uselessly.
"You all pushed me. Every last one of you. You made me divorce her. And now you wanna take it back?" His voice cracked, thick with despair. "It's too late."
Just then, the ER doors swung open. A doctor stepped out, pulling off his mask. "She had a sudden spike in blood pressure from the emotional distress.
"Caused a brief fainting spell. She's conscious now, stable. We'll keep her overnight for observation."
David and Lisa exchanged a relieved glance and rushed inside. Karen lay there, looking small and frail against the hospital pillows, an IV drip snaking into her arm.
The moment she saw them, she burst into tears.
She grabbed David's hand with a grip that was startlingly fierce for someone supposedly weak. "David, my money. My 1.5 million..."
She beat her chest with her free hand, sobbing openly. "That was your wedding money! The money I saved for this family. For the Brown name."
"Mom, please, calm down. The doctor said you can't stress yourself," David pleaded, trying to soothe her.
"Calm down?" Karen shot up in bed, her face contorted. "David, I'm telling you right now. Go find her. Go find Emma!"
Her eyes were wild, lit from within by something feral, greed and desperation burning together. "I don't care what you have to do. Beg. Get down on your knees if you have to. Make her come back. Make her marry you again!
"That lottery ticket was bought before the divorce was final. That money is marital property. She thinks she can walk away with all of it? Like hell she can!
"Go! Bring my daughter-in-law home. And bring back my 1.5 million!"
Karen's voice rose to a shriek, bouncing off the sterile hospital walls, shrill and jarring in the quiet.
*****
Of course, I had no idea the Browns were busy tearing each other apart over me.
Right now, I was sitting in my brand-new office, sipping coffee so smooth it felt illegal.
The office was on the thirty-fifth floor of the city's most prestigious high-rise, with floor-to-ceiling windows that made the skyline look as if it were laid out for me.
Ever since that interview aired yesterday, my phone hadn't stopped vibrating.
Old classmates I hadn't spoken to in years, relatives so distant I needed a family tree to place them, and strangers who claimed they "had to reach out" after seeing me on TV.
They all led with "congratulations," but really, they were trying to see if they could get a piece of the action.
I ignored every single one and put my phone on airplane mode.
Across from me sat Sophia Lane, my college roommate and the only person I trusted these days.
She'd built herself into one of the top headhunters in the industry. One call from me, and she'd cleared her entire calendar and hopped on a plane the next morning.
"Emma Grant, I swear, you're my hero." Sophia's eyes practically sparkled. "Three years married to that family, you walk away with nothing, and now this?
"This is the kind of comeback Hollywood wouldn't touch because it's too unbelievable."
I laughed. "Alright, enough. Let's talk business."
"Fair enough." Sophia shifted gears seamlessly, sliding a folder across my desk. "Pulled an all-nighter putting this together.
"Here's the team: a CPA with ten years of experience as your partner, two senior project managers, and four junior accountants. This lineup? Best in the city. I don't say that lightly."