Chapter 2

The moment his figure vanished into the crack of thunder, the last thread of feeling I had for him drowned in the downpour.

I quietly picked up my phone and made a call.

"Lawyer Barnes, draft me a divorce agreement. I want a divorce."

I hung up, opened my laptop, and began sorting through every cash flow record and equity asset of Barber Group.

Ten years.

I stood beside Zion Barber and pushed a nearly bankrupt Barber Group to the top of New York's Four Great Families.

As his investor, as the wife who weathered every storm building that company with him, I had every right to take what was mine.

Zion cheated during the marriage, siphoned company assets to prop up Delia Simmons, funneled illegal payoffs through the Old Town redevelopment project. I sorted every piece of evidence, encrypted it, and saved it to a hidden folder on the computer.

Just as I saved the last file, my phone shrieked.

The second I answered, a rushed voice came through.

"Is this Zion Barber's family? This is First General Hospital. Mr. Barber has been in a serious car accident. Please come at once."

I grabbed my phone and raced to the hospital.

My in-laws were already in the corridor. The moment my mother-in-law saw me, she jabbed a finger in my face.

"Irene, what kind of wife are you? Rain like this, and you didn't even stop Zion from going out. You got him into a car crash."

"I said from the start we shouldn't take you. A nouveau-riche daughter with nothing but money in her eyes, and in ten years you couldn't lay a single egg…"

My father-in-law's face was dark. "Enough!" he barked, then shot me a furious glare.

She was winding up to scream again when the emergency room doors swung open and a doctor stepped out.

"Which of you is family?"

She lunged for the doctor's arm. "Doctor, how's my son? Is he all right?"

The doctor's answer was grave and blunt.

"The impact struck the lower abdomen and severely shattered both testicles. The reproductive system is destroyed. The patient will likely lose all ability to father children. He will never be able to have an heir."

The corridor went dead silent.

The color drained from her face in an instant, and she sank straight to the floor.

"No. No, it's not possible. My son is only thirty. He's the only child our Barber family has. How can this be?"

My father-in-law swayed on his feet, snatched the diagnosis, and stared at it, refusing to believe it.

"Doctor, is there any way to treat it? Whatever it costs."

The doctor shook his head with regret.

"The impact was too severe, the testicles shattered. There's no better treatment right now, not here, not overseas."

Her expression twisted. She sprang up with a shriek and clawed at me.

"You slut, this is all your fault, you jinx, you ruined my son. Why did you let him drive? Why didn't you stop him…"

I didn't see it coming. My cheek exploded with a burning sting.

My phone chimed.

"Ms. Donaldson, I told Zion to get here in five minutes, and he's already run three red lights for me. Are you sure you're going to keep being Mrs. Barber?"