Chapter 1

Mom made muffled noises behind my hand, glaring at me, her eyes screaming, “You ungrateful brat, let go so I can kill him!”

Dad watched her thrash like that, smirked, tossed the agreement onto the table, and wore a look that said: “So I cheated, what are you going to do about it?”

My knuckles went white. God, I wanted to deck him!

But the comments were flying.

[Easy, easy, easy!]

[Lose your temper and you lose! He thinks he's a tycoon now, and you two are acting like fishwives, beneath his station. Divorcing him is the right move!]

The comments were right.

If I didn't stop her, Mom would just sob and scream accusations, then declare out of pride that we didn't want a single cent.

I pinched her, hard.

The pain brought tears to her eyes instantly.

Perfect. A beautiful woman in tears.

That was exactly how Dad fell for her, all those years ago.

I reached up like I was wiping her tears, letting my own eyes go red. "Mom, don't be sad."

Then, under cover of the gesture, I leaned to her ear. "Keep crying. Pull at his heartstrings. Divorce on good terms and he'll hand over half of everything!"

She just blinked those big, innocent eyes at me, so I added, "Two billion, minimum."

Mom sucked in a sharp breath, and in an instant her eyes were brimming as she turned to my father.

"Samuel."

Her voice trembled, just slightly. She lifted her chin, tears welling, holding them back by sheer will.

"Are you really... really leaving us?"

Dad froze.

He thought my mother would fly off the handle and hurl accusations like she always did over every little thing, looking nothing short of a bitter, unhinged shrew.

That way he could walk out with a clear conscience.

Instead she'd flipped the script, and his whole plan fell apart. He didn't know how to keep going.

He frowned. "You're... not going to fight this?"

The comments cracked up.

[Even Dad's thrown.]

[The shrew stopped being a shrew, and now the man doesn't know how to get divorced lmao.]

I watched Mom, breathless. Keep going, Mom!

She lowered her eyes. "I used to fight you. I was just so afraid of losing you. But I was naive. A lifetime is so long, and I thought we still had years and years."

She looked up, twisting her dress nervously, forcing out a small smile.

Something in Dad's face softened.

Nice one, Mom.

The comments were losing it.

[Mom's got RANGE!]

[Shame the deadbeat's dead set on leaving. Gotta push harder.]

I signaled her with my eyes and a tiny gesture. “Keep going, keep going!”

Her voice went feather-light, almost a sigh. "It's all right. If you've made up your mind, I won't stand in your way. Twenty years with you, and I've been so happy."

The moment she finished, the tear balanced on her lashes fell, right on cue.

Dad turned his face away. He couldn't even look at her.

A comment drifted past. [There it is. Men always fall for this trick.]

[Especially rich men.]

[Especially rich, ugly men. They're always so sure of their own "charm."]

The comments were dead right.

Crying and accusing would only make Dad feel he'd already given us twenty good years, so wasn't he a great husband, a great father? A useless housewife getting greedy had it coming.

But tell him with that still-beautiful face that I'm letting you go because I love you, and he wouldn't stand a chance.

Sure enough, his voice came softer than before, a little unsteady.

"I'll... make it up to you both. If this version of the agreement doesn't work, we can talk again."

Mom's eyes filled with tender love, her tone deliberately wounded.

"Samuel, I never asked you for anything. But that ruby necklace isn't in the agreement, and it hurts me that you'd leave it out..."

Dad blinked.

Her cheeks flushed. "You know the one. The one you had made for me in Paris, after our first night together."

"I've barely worn it all these years. Every time I take it out and look at it, I think of that night, of what you said..."

She stopped.

And gave him another lingering, loving look.

The corner of Dad's mouth actually curled with pride.

I almost applauded!

Mom wasn't begging for an expensive necklace. She was making him remember that he'd "had it" that night.

A comment: [Ohh, look at the old man feeling himself again.]

[Mom went straight for the jugular!]

I gave her a silent mental high-five, ducked my head to fix my expression, then peeked up now and then with red-rimmed eyes, the look saying, Daddy, are you sure you don't want us?

He looked at Mom, then at me, and let out a heavy sigh.

"What I gave you is yours, of course. I'll have the agreement revised properly."

Mom gazed at him. "Samuel, I'll treasure our memories."

Then she pulled her eyes away as if it hurt to look any longer, as if one more glance would make it too hard to let him go.

Dad's throat bobbed. He fled.