Chapter 2

I didn't fall apart. I just calmly lifted my phone, filmed everything, and then kicked the solid wood door wide open.

"Bang! "

On the bed, Margot Simmons screamed and pulled the blanket tight around herself, her eyes terrified but somehow defiant too.

And Eustace, my perfect fiancé, after one brief flicker of shock, showed no panic at all.

He slid into a silk robe without hurry and walked toward me barefoot.

Under the dim wall lamp his eyes were as gentle as ever, even carrying a doting sort of reproach.

"Madge, it's pouring out there. Why would you run all the way over here?"

He reached out, perfectly natural, to smooth the hair at my temples. "Dressed this thin, if you catch a cold it'll break my heart."

Looking at that devoted-good-husband face, I felt sick. I slapped his hand away hard. "Don't touch me. You're filthy."

Eustace's hand stopped in midair. He wasn't angry. He sighed softly, the way you'd indulge a child throwing a tantrum.

"Madge, don't sulk. Fine, I drank too much tonight, I got carried away for a bit. But you have to understand, she's nothing more than a distraction."

He leaned in slightly, his eyes so tender it was suffocating.

"The place of Mrs. Cobb belongs to you, Madge Sullivan, and only you. It always will."

"Be good. Don't let some person who doesn't matter come between us, all right?"

"Eustace... but I'm already carrying your baby..." Margot cried out, wounded.

That sentence shattered seven years of my youth and my trust into pieces.

He already had an illegitimate child on the way, and he could still talk to me about our wedding of the century without so much as changing his expression?

I looked at the man in front of me and laughed, cold and low.

The tears slid down, but my back stayed perfectly straight.

"Eustace, put away that revolting devotion. You think I want that reeking little seat of yours, this 'Mrs. Cobb'?"

I took a step back and tapped my earpiece. "Come in. Bring the lawyer."

Footsteps broke out beyond the door.

My cousin came in with Sheridan Law's lead attorney, and two bodyguards instantly moved to block Eustace.

"Madge Sullivan, have you lost your mind?" His gentle mask finally cracked.

"Lawyer Finch, the video I just took, is it enough to prove Eustace's major fault during the engagement?" I didn't even spare him a glance.

"More than enough." Lawyer Finch pushed his glasses up, all business.

"Under the supplementary clause of the prenuptial agreement, since the broken engagement results from the man's serious moral misconduct, the East End land parcel under Mr. Cobb's name will go to you as the contractual penalty."

I pulled the ten-million pink-diamond engagement ring off my ring finger and threw it down at Eustace's feet.

"Eustace, we're done."

Then I turned and walked out without a shred of regret.

No one behind me called me back.

I heard Eustace speak, gently.

"Madge Sullivan, do you really think you can walk away?"