Chapter 4
Employees moved behind glass walls, carrying coffee and discussing quarterly projections.
Somewhere, a printer hummed.
The world had the audacity to continue as though mine hadn't just collapsed.
I returned to my office and closed the door.
For several minutes, I sat perfectly still.
My wedding ring felt unbearably heavy.
I twisted it around my finger, remembering how Preston had slipped it on with trembling hands.
He had promised to love me in sickness and health.
I had believed him.
I had carried him through fire.
And he had spent five years making me feel ashamed of surviving it.
Something inside me finally broke.
But it didn't break into tears.
It broke into clarity.
I opened my laptop, found the contact information for the divorce attorney I had quietly consulted months earlier, and typed a short message.
I was ready to proceed.
No more postponing.
No more asking whether Preston had meant his insults.
No more trying to become beautiful enough for a man who had already decided to be cruel.
I pressed send.
Then I removed my wedding ring and set it beside my keyboard.
At that exact moment, my phone vibrated.
A message appeared.
Vivian.
Penthouse boardroom. Glass Tower.
Now.
Gideon Ashford.
My boss.
The billionaire founder of Ashford Capital was a man whose reputation could make experienced investment bankers go silent.
He rarely summoned employees without explanation.
When he did, someone usually left the meeting with either a remarkable opportunity or a very serious problem.
I stared at the message.
Then I picked up my notebook and took the private elevator to the top floor.
The reinforced glass doors of the boardroom opened with a pneumatic hiss.
Gideon stood at the far end of the table, his dark suit immaculate, his expression unreadable.
Behind him, Manhattan stretched beneath a gray sky.
"Close the door, Vivian."
I obeyed.
He gestured toward a chair.
Before I could sit, he dropped a thick confidential file onto the polished table.
"I know you're planning to divorce Preston," he said.
My pulse jumped.
"Gideon, I don't know what you've heard."
"I know enough to understand that your marriage is not the only thing he's been taking advantage of."
He pushed the file toward me.
Across the cover, in dark lettering, was Preston's name.
Beneath it were three words.
EQUITY ELIGIBILITY REVIEW.
I looked up.
Gideon's expression hardened.
"Your husband believes he's about to become one of the most powerful men in this firm."