Chapter 4

But he had no intention of letting me walk away with the shares and assets that were rightfully mine.

When I thought about it, it made sense. His true love was Athena. He'd married me for the business, for the connections I brought, and every year of the last ten had been an act, all of it for money.

I argued my case, ready to drag it to court if that was what it took to get back what belonged to me.

But in the end, Keith produced the villa's security footage.

"If I don't divorce you right now, and instead take this footage to a psychiatric hospital and tell them you're mentally ill and have you committed, how do you think that ends for you?"

On the screen, I was going at Keith like a madwoman, wrecking the birthday party, dragging around a woman barely younger than me and screaming that she was my daughter.

Anyone who watched it would think I'd lost my mind.

And if they locked me in a psychiatric ward, no amount of crying to heaven or clawing at the earth would save me.

With Deidre talking me down,

I understood that being alive mattered more than anything, so I gritted my teeth.

"Fine. I only want my premarital assets. Everything from after the marriage, I won't take a cent."

"That's my bottom line!"

Keith didn't care about the few scraps I'd brought into the marriage, so he agreed to the divorce quickly.

With no property to divide, the paperwork went through fast, and the moment we had our divorce certificate in hand, Keith and Athena went straight off to register their marriage.

The two of them clung to each other and wept, going on about how hardship had finally turned to sweetness.

Athena especially kept holding my hand, thanking me.

"I honestly never thought you'd agree to divorce so easily and just hand a fortune worth hundreds of millions straight to my son."

"Don't worry, if you and your daughter ever can't afford to eat, our door will always be open to you. You'll always be welcome to come work as our housekeeper!"

I didn't say much.

I turned and walked out of the county clerk's office.

7:

But after I'd walked quite a way, I realized Deidre hadn't caught up with me, so I turned back to look for her.

When I found her, she was just taking a check from Keith's hand.

"Thank you, Mr. Morton. Thank you, Mrs. Morton."

Keith and Athena were tickled by that "Mrs. Morton," but they both shook their heads.

"This is what you've earned. Without you, the divorce would never have gone this smoothly."

"But as you can see, this is more than we agreed on, because I want you to keep the act going a while longer. I want to see her break. Only then can it make up for everything Athena has suffered all these years."

"And if she catches on, be sure to record it, audio and video. I really want to see just how hopeless she looks the moment she learns the truth."

I cleared my throat, cutting off whatever the three of them were about to say next.

Their faces flickered with panic.

Keith seemed about to explain something, but Athena stopped him.

Seeing how calm I looked, Athena assumed I hadn't heard what they'd said, so she offered an explanation that only gave the game away.

"Even though you walked off wanting nothing,"

"we still feel for you. We were afraid you couldn't raise this child on your own, so we gave her a check, to help her look after you from now on."

Keith joined in, barely holding back a laugh.

"That's right."

"I find it hard to believe too, but you were right. Deidre is our daughter, after all. I can't stand by and watch the two of you live in such misery."

"Deidre says she probably can't travel back right away, so you and your child can use the time to catch up!"

I only smiled, paying the two of them no mind, and turned to Deidre.

"Deidre, we should go."

"Didn't you promise to come with me for the miscarriage? Any later and it'll be too late."

Keith froze for a second, and once it sank in what I'd said, he was stunned.

"What did you call her?"

"And what did you say you need her to come with you for?"