Chapter 1

The first time I caught my husband taking another woman to a prenatal appointment, I lost control.

I tore up her paperwork in the clinic. I screamed. I dragged her into the hallway before Daniel Whitmore pinned me to the floor and called me insane.

After that, every time he protected Serena, I made a scene. I smashed things. I showed up at his company. I became the joke of our entire social circle.

Then my mother became critically ill, and Daniel froze every account I could access.

"Apologize to Serena," he said. "Then I'll release the money."

I swallowed my pride. I stopped calling him, stopped arguing, stopped asking who he loved.

On the day Mom was scheduled for surgery, Serena claimed seeing me triggered her anxiety. Daniel withheld the payment again.

"Delaying surgery one day isn't going to kill her," he said, wrapping an arm around Serena.

He flew Serena to Iceland that night to see the northern lights.

Two hours later she posted a photo of them under the aurora: *Somebody says you should never sleep on a bad mood. He flew me across the world just to make me smile.*

That night I held my mother's cold hand and booked a flight out of the country.

Daniel finally texted: *You've been punished enough. I'll transfer your mom tomorrow. We don't even have to divorce if you behave from now on.*

At the funeral home, the attendant asked what name I wanted engraved on the urn.

"Evelyn Pierce," I said.

"Should we notify her son-in-law? He's listed as an emergency contact."

I slipped off my wedding ring. "No. He won't be her son-in-law much longer."

My mother's death certificate stated 2:17 a.m. Daniel's ambulance transfer was scheduled for nine the following morning.

His assistant called, asking me to record an apology video for Serena before the accounts could be unfrozen.

I remembered kneeling at the hospital desk, begging Serena for the money to keep Mom alive. I remembered Daniel having security escort me out.

"Tell him my lawyer will send the divorce papers," I said.

I sold the diamond ring to cover the remaining medical bills and funeral costs. There was almost nothing left. A nurse handed me Mom's glasses, her old keys, and a letter she had dictated when she could no longer hold a pen.

*Nora, don't lose yourself trying to save me.*

I sat with that sentence until the light changed outside the window.

Mom's keys were for her old house on the south side of town. Daniel had promised to renovate it for us. Now Serena wanted to turn it into a private gallery.

I told the attorney, "He can keep the cars and the company. I want my mother's house and whatever she left in the company vault. And I want the divorce."