Chapter two

I dragged my suitcase through the grand foyer, my eyes burning. I just wanted to leave quietly. I wanted to vanish into the night before the reality of being homeless and pregnant fully sank in.

But as I reached the massive oak front doors, they swung open.

Light flooded in, followed by the aggressive flash of cameras. A swarm of reporters was already there, tipped off by someone. And standing in the center of the chaos, leaning gracefully on a cane she clearly didn't need anymore, was Lydia.

"Elara! Going somewhere?" Lydia’s voice was sweet, but her eyes were venomous.

"Lydia, move," I whispered, trying to shield my face from the lenses. "You got what you wanted. You got the house, you got the man. Just let me go."

"Let you go?" Lydia laughed, turning toward the cameras. "After what you did? You didn't just paralyze me, Elara. You spent three years draining Charlie’s accounts while I was suffering in silence!"

"What the f**k are you talking about?" I gasped.

One of the reporters shoved a microphone into my face. "Ms. Vance, is it true that the divorce was triggered by your embezzlement? Did you steal the 'Heart of the Sea' diamond from the Vane vault tonight?"

"I didn't steal anything!" I shouted, looking back at Charlie, who was standing at the top of the stairs, watching the spectacle with a cold, detached expression. "Charlie, tell them! I’m leaving with nothing but my clothes!"

Lydia stepped forward, her hand moving like a snake. She reached into the side pocket of my worn-out suitcase and pulled out a velvet box. She snapped it open, revealing the massive, blue diamond that had belonged to Charlie’s mother.

The crowd gasped. The flashes became a blinding wall of light.

"My God, Elara," Lydia sobbed, a masterclass in fake grief. "Even on your way out, you had to rob him? Is it not enough that you ruined my body? You had to take his family's legacy too?"

"I didn't put that there! You planted it!" I screamed, lunging for the box, but Charlie stepped down the stairs, his hand gripping my arm with bruising force.

"That's enough," Charlie hissed, his voice audible over the shouting press. He looked at the diamond, then back at me with a look of pure, unadulterated loathing. "I was going to let you walk away, Elara. But you really are as cheap as everyone says. You're a thief, a liar, and a goddemned parasite."

"Charlie, please... I’m…. Done with you you will regret this all of you!" I cried out knowing even if tell him I’m pregnant he won’t believe, the words slipping out in a moment of pure terror.

The reporters went silent for a heartbeat before erupting into a frenzy. Charlie didn't even flinch. He leaned in close to my ear, his voice a lethal whisper.

"Do you think you will survive without me? You’ve been sleeping with half the city to get back at me. Go rot in hell, Elara. If I ever see you again, I'll make sure the police finish what I started tonight."

He shoved me toward the door. Lydia stepped aside, a small, triumphant smirk playing on her lips as she watched me stumble.

"Guilty!" someone in the crowd shouted.

"Thief!"

"Trash!"

I ran. I didn't look back. I ran through the rain, my suitcase abandoned on the driveway, the laughter and mockery of the reporters ringing in my ears. I couldn't believe it. My own sister had framed me. My husband had condemned me.

I collapsed under a bus stop shelter blocks away, my clothes soaked, my heart shattered into a million jagged pieces. I clutched my stomach, the only thing I had left in the world.

"They're going to pay," I whispered through my sobs, my voice hardening into something cold and sharp. "I don't care how long it takes. Every single one of them is going to bleed for this."