Novels by Ifee

JULIAN POVThe board voted me out on a Friday.I did not see it coming. I should have. The signs were there. The missed payments. The lost clients. The frozen accounts. The media coverage. The whispers in the hallway. The looks I got when I walked into the building. The way people stopped talking when I entered a room.I should have seen it.But I did not.I walked into the boardroom that morning like I owned the place. Because I did own the place. I had built it. I had made it successful. I had made it profitable. I had made it untouchable.Or so I thought.They were all sitting at the table when I walked in. Twelve faces. Twelve people who had once trusted me. Twelve people who had once believed in me. Twelve people who were now looking at me like I was a stranger."Julian," one of them said. "Please sit down."I sat down."We have taken a vote."I looked at them. I did not understand."A vote on what?""On your position as CEO."I felt my blood run cold."What are you talking about

NADIA POVThe bathroom was too quiet.I sat on the cold tile floor with my back against the bathtub, staring at the little white stick in my hand. Two pink lines. Clear. Unmistakable. I was pregnant.My hands were shaking. I did not know if it was from joy or fear or something in between. I only knew that I had taken this test six times in the last hour, and every single one said the same thing. I was.going to have a baby.I pressed my palm flat against my stomachI. Still flat. Still empty. But not for long.The stared last time I did this, I was happy. The last time I did this, I ran to Julian with the test in at my hand and he lifted me off the floor and spun me around until I was dizzy. He kissed me like I was the most precious thing in the world. He whispered that we were going to be a family. He promised me he would be there for every appointment. Every milestone. Every sleepless night.He was not there for any of it.I closed my eyes and tried not to remember. The bleeding. The

NADIA POVThe ballroom was too bright.Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling like frozen tears. The walls were lined with gold. The floors were polished marble. Everyone was dressed in their finest. Everyone was smiling their finest smiles. Everyone was pretending.I was pretending too.I stood beside Julian and smiled at people whose names I would not remember tomorrow. I shook hands with men who looked through me like I was invisible. I nodded at women who whispered behind their champagne glasses. I played the part I had been playing for years.The perfect wife.The silent partner.The woman behind the man.No one asked me what I did. No one asked me what I thought. No one asked me anything. They only asked about Julian. How was Julian? How was the company? How did it feel to be married to such a powerful man?I smiled and said all the right things.I was good at saying all the right things.I had been doing it for so long that I almost believed them.Almost.---Julian stood be

NADIA POVI found the photograph by accident.It was in his coat pocket. The black coat he wore to the gala. He had left it on the chair in the bedroom. He never left his clothes out. He was always so careful. So precise. So neat.But that night, he was careless.I was hanging it up when I felt something in the pocket. A piece of paper. A photograph. I pulled it out without thinking. I did not expect to find anything. I was just tidying up. I was just being a good wife.I froze.She was beautiful. She was smiling. She was standing beside Julian. His arm was around her waist. Her head was on his shoulder. They looked happy. They looked like a couple. They looked like they belonged together.I had never seen her before.I had never seen him look at anyone the way he was looking at her.I turned the photograph over. There was writing on the back. Julian's handwriting. Neat. Precise. Careless.Me and S. Summer 2022.Summer 2022.That was two years ago. That was the summer I was in the hos

NADIA POV I found the key three days later. It was in his coat pocket again. The same coat. The same pocket. He had forgotten about it. He had forgotten he had left it there. He had forgotten that I had already found one secret in that coat. I waited until he was asleep. I waited until I was sure he would not wake up. Then I crept out of bed and walked to the study. My hands were shaking. I did not know what I was going to find. I did not know what was waiting for me on the other side of that locked drawer. I only knew that I had to know. I had to see. I had to understand. I unlocked the door. I walked inside. I knelt down beside the desk and slid the key into the lock. It turned easily. Too easily. Like it had been waiting for me. Like it wanted to be opened. I pulled the drawer open. Inside was a folder. Thick. Black. Unmarked. I lifted it out and set it on the desk. I sat down in his chair. I opened the folder. The first page was a legal document. I did not understand it at first.

NADIA POVI did not sleep that night.I sat on the floor of the bedroom with my back against the door. I had locked it. I had never locked it before. Not once in five years of marriage. But tonight, I locked it.I could hear him outside. I could hear his footsteps. I could hear him pacing. I could hear him stop in front of the door. I could hear him raise his hand to knock.He did not knock.He stood there for a long time. Then he walked away.I sat there in the dark and held my stomach. The baby. The tiny life inside me. The only thing that was still mine. The only thing he did not know about. The only thing he could not take.I will not let him take you, I thought. I will not let him take anything else from me.---The next morning, I did not come out of the bedroom until I heard the front door close.I waited until I was sure he was gone. I waited until the elevator doors had opened and closed. I waited until the penthouse was silent.Then I opened the door and walked out.The stud