Chapter 2

I spent the night at a hotel.

The next day, I called a real estate agent and rented a spacious apartment in a high-rise.

I handed in my resignation at work.

Everything went smoothly.

I began sorting through years' worth of belongings, preparing to return home and take over the family company after the wedding.

Halfway through, I realized I'd left my CFA charter at Ian's place.

So I went back to get it.

I stopped outside the apartment door.

The fingerprint lock had never failed me before, but no matter how many times I tried, it wouldn't recognize me.

I couldn't get in, but through the door I could hear Ian and Sophie talking.

They were discussing work, the way Ian and I used to.

I stood there quietly and waited until they were done before I knocked.

Ian opened the door.

When he saw me standing there, he looked as if he'd been expecting me.

His face said it all.

See? I knew you couldn't live without me.

Sophie popped out from behind him and glanced at the fingerprint lock.

She put on an apologetic expression, but the smugness in her voice gave her away.

"Sorry, Fiona. I guess the lock ran out of space for fingerprints and automatically deleted yours.

"I told him not to delete yours, but Ian insisted this would always be my home, so I should have my fingerprint registered too."

Ian cut her off.

"Nobody here treats you like a servant, and nobody acts like you're invisible.

"You don't have to walk on eggshells in this house."

Then he gave me a pointed look.

Clearly, Sophie had told him plenty about how badly I'd treated her.

Like mother, like daughter. My mom was too decent for her own good. She had no idea how vicious women like Sophie's birth mother could be, or how far they'd go to ruin another woman's reputation to get what they wanted.

"Whatever."

I nodded like it didn't matter.

He seemed a little surprised that I'd backed down.

His face relaxed, and he looked like he was about to say something nice.

But Sophie tugged on his hand.

"Ian, can we put mango on the fruit platter?

"My stepmom never let me have it."

Ian answered easily, "Of course."

I watched in silence, laughing bitterly to myself.

The truth was, a blood test had shown Sophie was mildly allergic to mangoes.

That was the only reason my mom never let her eat them.

She really was an ingrate no amount of kindness could change.

For the client's sake, I warned Sophie one last time.

"You were just talking about Mr. Kessler.

"He's allergic to mango. Make sure none of the fruit platters or desserts at the dinner contain mango.

"Also, he never invests in heavy industry, so don't bring it up. You aren't authorized to promise him a stake in any project, either."

Robert Kessler was the client I'd always handled personally.

To help Sophie out, I'd handed part of his account over to her.

A calculating look flashed across her face before she put on a hurt expression. "Fiona, I know you don't like me being in charge of Mr. Kessler's account.

"But you've already quit. You can't keep bossing everyone around.

"I listen to Ian now."

Ian gave me a long look.

We'd worked together for years.

Of course he knew all that.

But he'd grown tired of always being overshadowed by me at work.

The moment he heard I'd quit, he'd actually looked relieved.

To him, it was just a fruit platter.

"You don't work there anymore, Fiona.

"Stop pulling rank like you're still the manager and picking on people.

"So what if we lose Mr. Kessler? We still have Mr. Larson and Mr. Walsh. If anything goes wrong, I'll take the heat."

I nodded and didn't say anything else.

Robert was one of the company's major clients, with powerful connections throughout New York's financial circles.

Offending him meant alienating the entire New York elite.

Apparently they didn't know that yet.

Then I opened the safe and froze.

My certificates and awards had all been torn to shreds and dumped inside!

I crouched down and picked up a fragment of one of the certificates.

My heart plummeted.

Without hesitating, I called a credentialing consultant and asked, "Mr. Webb, someone shredded all my original certificates. Can any of them be reissued?"

There was a pause on the other end.

"You've lost the originals? Some documents only exist in physical form and can't be replaced.

"And even the credentials that can be reissued will take a long time."

I hung up, walked straight into the living room, and stopped in front of the two of them.

The moment Sophie spotted me out of the corner of her eye, she began murmuring that her stomach hurt because she hadn't eaten dinner.

Ian poured her a glass of warm water and casually ordered, "Sophie's stomach hurts, and she's craving the noodles you make. Go cook her some. I wouldn't mind a bowl myself."

I ignored him, walked up to Sophie, and slapped her across the face.