Chapter 2

Lewis stared at me for another second, then burst out laughing.

“Baby, come on. Where would you even go?”

I said nothing.

“You don't have parents. You don't have a family waiting to take you in.” He gestured around the foyer, at the marble floors and the guard visible through the glass. “This is your home. Everyone you know is connected to me.”

He spoke casually, as though explaining something I should have understood already.

“And you don't want any money?” His smile widened. “How long has it been since you worked, Letty? What exactly are you planning to live on?”

I curled my fingers around my phone.

“Your paintings?”

There had been a time when he'd said those two words with pride.

“You haven't touched a brush in years. Nobody even knows who you are.” He tilted his head. “You think they're going to buy a canvas because the boss's wife signed it?”

Each question hurt a little more than the last.

I'd once stayed up painting until sunrise. Lewis used to bring me coffee and sit beside the easel, telling me I would make a name for myself.

Now he seemed amused that I might still want to.

He reached out and ruffled my hair. I went still beneath his hand.

“Enough, sweetheart. You've made your point.”

He glanced at his phone.

“My girl's on her period. She's miserable, and I promised I'd keep her company.” He picked up his keys. “I'll tell my assistant to put something extra in your account. Buy yourself something nice. We'll call it even.”

He kissed his fingers and brushed them against my cheek.

Then he left.

Outside, a guard opened the car door for him. Lewis was still smiling when he ducked into the back seat.

I watched until the convoy disappeared through the gates.

He thought I was negotiating. A bigger allowance, a few nights at home, perhaps a promise that he'd be more discreet.

I didn't want any of it.

I opened the conversation with my lawyer.

He won't sign. Can we proceed without his agreement?

The reply came a few minutes later.

Yes. Come in this afternoon. Bring the records we discussed, including anything documenting the affairs.

For the first time that day, I could breathe properly.

After leaving the law firm, I called Althea Pruitt and asked her to meet me for lunch.

She was already waiting when I reached the restaurant, her bag on the chair beside her. I sat down and told her everything.

By the time I finished, her eyes were red.

“Letitia. Are you fucking serious?”

“Thea.”

“No. Don't ‘Thea’ me.” She leaned across the table. “You're leaving your husband, and I'm only finding out now? What did you think I was here for?”

“I needed to be sure.”

“About leaving that asshole?”

Her voice rose. I glanced toward the other tables.

“I knew something was wrong with him. All that charm, all those promises.” She shoved her untouched plate aside. “And now he thinks he can parade some girl around and talk to you like that?”

She reached for her bag.

“Where is he?”

I caught her hand.

“Sit down.”

“I mean it. I don't care how many men he has carrying guns for him. I'll kill him myself.”

Despite everything, I laughed.

“Please don't. I have enough paperwork to deal with.”

She didn't smile.

“Thea, I'm done. I don't care who he's with anymore.”

That was what finally made her cry.

“Ten years, Letty.” She wiped angrily beneath one eye. “I was there. I watched you build your whole life around him. You don't get to say it like it cost you nothing.”

“I didn't say that.”

“Do you remember what you went through for him? That competition alone, what happened when you went there because he asked you to—”

She stopped.

I had lowered my eyes to the table. My hand was still wrapped around hers, but neither of us moved.

“Forget it,” she said quickly. “We don't have to talk about that.”

I nodded once.

“But he doesn't get to do this to you.” Her voice shook. “I don't care who he is. I'll find a way to make him and that woman regret it.”

My throat tightened.

Lewis had stood in our home and told me I had no one.

Across from me, Althea was crying into a napkin, furious that I hadn't let her help sooner.

I held her hand a little tighter.

“Okay. Enough about him.” I managed a smile. “I have something good to tell you.”

She sniffed.

“What?”

I brought her hand around the edge of the table and rested it against my lower stomach.

“You're going to be a godmother.”

She stared at me.

Then her face changed.

“You're keeping his baby?”

“Thea—”

“Letitia, he cheats on you. He treats you like furniture. You cannot seriously be thinking—”

“It isn't his.”

“What?”

The couple at the next table stopped eating. A waiter looked over from the bar.

I pulled gently at her wrist.

“Lower your voice.”

Althea sat back, blinking at me. For several seconds, she seemed unable to decide which question to ask first.

Then she leaned forward again.

“You need to start talking. Right now.”

“Do you remember Frederick Pruitt? From high school?”

“The genius?” Her brow furrowed. “Obviously. Same surname, none of his brains. I spent four years explaining we weren't related.”

I smiled.

For the first time all afternoon, thinking about the future didn't frighten me.

I opened my mouth to tell her.

“Letitia.”

The voice came from beside our table.

My smile faded.

Lewis stood outside one of the private dining rooms, a young woman tucked against his side. His hand rested at her waist. Two of his men lingered in the doorway behind him.

He looked from me to Althea.

“What are you doing here?”

Althea turned.

“Oh, you son of a bitch.”

Her chair scraped across the floor.

Before I could catch her, she grabbed the ketchup bottle from our table and strode toward him.

“I was just talking about you.”

She squeezed a streak of ketchup across his shirt, then slapped her open palm against his chest, smearing red into the expensive white cotton.

One of his guards stepped forward. Lewis raised a hand, stopping him.

Althea didn't even look at the man.

“Do you have a conscience?” she demanded. “Or did you lose that when everyone started calling you boss?”

The girl tightened her grip on Lewis's arm.

“You actually brought her here?”

“Thea,” I said, getting up.

But she was looking straight at him, tears still bright in her eyes.

“Do you have any idea what Letty gave up for you? What she went through while you were building all this?”

Her voice broke.

“She stayed through everything, Lewis. What the hell have you ever done to deserve her?”