Chapter 1

The air conditioner at city hall was broken. In the suffocating heat of July, Andrew Grant slid the divorce agreement in front of me, a fountain pen resting on top, its tip pointed at the line for Party B's signature.

"You've read the terms." His voice was low and steady, the same tone he used in meetings. "The condo is yours, the car is yours, and Lily's child support will be 6,700 dollars a month, sent straight to your account. If that isn't enough, we can talk."

I stared at the pen. A Montblanc—the one I'd given him for his birthday last year. He'd probably forgotten that.

"I don't want the condo," I said. Andrew looked up at me, surprise finally showing on his face for the first time that day.

"What?"

"I don't want the condo or the car. Lily stays with me. The child support can stay exactly as written." He frowned.

"Claire Bennett, do you know how much that place is worth? Central One Residence. About 8 million dollars. You don't want it?"

"No."

"What about the car? A Porsche Cayenne. It cost 400,000 dollars. You don't want that either?"

"No."

I picked up the pen, flipped to the last page, and signed my name. The handwriting was neat and careful, just like when I signed our marriage license three years ago. Andrew stared at my hand in silence for a few seconds.

"Have you really thought this through? You're walking away with nothing. Don't regret it later."

I set the pen down and looked up at him. This man, in a perfectly cut suit with a gleaming tie clip, was thirty-four, Brightwell Group's youngest vice president, earning 1 million dollars a year plus stock dividends - the standard everyone else aimed for. He was my daughter's father - and, starting today, my ex-husband.

"I won't regret it." I stood up and gently pushed my chair back into place.

"You and Lily—"

I cut him off. "My life and my child are mine. Whether things go well or badly from here on out has nothing to do with you anymore."

A soft little "Mommy" came from outside the door. Lily was in Maya's arms, pressed against the hallway glass, wearing the floral dress I'd ironed last night and a strawberry hair clip. She had no idea what was happening today; all she knew was that Mom had said they'd go out to run an errand and then get ice cream afterward.

I pushed the door open and walked out. Maya came up to me, her eyes red. "You signed it?" I nodded, and she bit her lip before taking my bag with her free hand.

I took Lily from Maya's arms. My little girl wrapped her arms around my neck and asked softly, "Mommy, ice cream?"

"Yeah. We're going right now."

I carried my daughter toward the exit.

The hallway wasn't long. A dozen steps and we were out. No footsteps came after me, and I didn't look back either.

The sunlight was brutal. The second we stepped out of city hall, it stabbed at my eyes. Lily buried her face in my neck and mumbled, "Too sunny." Maya jogged to the curb to bring the car around, the passenger door already open.

I bent down, settled Lily into her car seat, and buckled her in. Then I got into the passenger seat and shut the door. It was cool inside the car.

Maya glanced at me, her lips moving like she wanted to say more, but in the end she only asked.

"Go?"

"Go," I said.