MasukVivienne’s fingers traced idle patterns across his chest. “A reminder of what? That we won?”
“That she signed her own erasure with the same hand she once used to pour our wine like a servant. That every legal tie was already severed before the fire ever started. That the story the public is currently weeping over is the exact story we wrote for them.”She was quiet for a moment, then propped herself up again so she could see his face clearly.&ldquVivienne’s fingers traced idle patterns across his chest. “A reminder of what? That we won?”“That she signed her own erasure with the same hand she once used to pour our wine like a servant. That every legal tie was already severed before the fire ever started. That the story the public is currently weeping over is the exact story we wrote for them.”She was quiet for a moment, then propped herself up again so she could see his face clearly.“Priscilla texted while you were still asleep,” she said. “She wants lunch. She says she already has mood boards for the wedding announcement timeline and ideas about how long we should let the ‘grieving widower finds love again’ narrative run before we give them a date.”Geoffrey huffed a short, dark laugh. “Of course she does. My sister has been waiting to plan this wedding since the night I first told her you were permanent.”“She&rsq
Morning After the ClaimDawn bled slowly across the city, turning the glass walls of the penthouse the color of weak, liquid gold.Geoffrey woke first.For a long moment he did not move. Vivienne lay half on top of him, one long leg thrown over his hips, her cheek pressed to the center of his chest. Her breath was warm and even against his skin. The sheets were a complete wreck—tangled, shoved halfway off the mattress, heavily stained from the night before. Most of the damage was concentrated on the left side of the bed. Lottie’s side. The side she had slept on for ten quiet, obedient years.The air still smelled of sex, of Vivienne’s perfume, and beneath it the faint, stubborn ghost of the soft floral scent Lottie had once worn. Geoffrey stared at the ceiling and felt nothing but a deep, cold satisfaction.She was right.The bed was theirs now.Vivienne stirred. She stretched like a cat that had finally been allowed to claim the best patch of sunlight, then lifted her head. Her eyes
Vivienne got up on the bed from Lottie’s side and kneeled back down in only her black lace and diamond lingerie. She watched him undress with predatory eyes: the jacket, the tie, the shirt, all the controlled aggression he radiated as he took off his clothes. Once he was completely undressed, he came to join her, kneeling between her open thighs, one hand squeezing her neck with enough force to make her gasp.“Say it.”“Lottie Smith is dead.”“Again.”“She’s dead. She’s gone. And this bed belongs to us.”He kissed her as though trying to wipe away any last traces of Lottie that were left in the room. Vivienne kissed him back with equal passion, digging her nails into his back as she rolled her hips against him. Geoffrey tore off her bra, freeing her breasts, and sucked hard on one of her nipples. His other hand moved to push her panties aside to find her soaking wet.“Fuck,&rd
“Absolutely dead,” she said, voice rich with triumph. “And she deserved every second of it. Cheers to that.”She crossed the room, heels clicking against marble, and clinked her glass against Geoffrey’s with deliberate force. The sound rang sharp and final.“To the end of the most expensive mistake this family ever made,” Eleanor continued. “Ten years of feeding her, clothing her, tolerating her silences and her desperate little smiles. Ten years of watching her stare at my son like he had hung the moon while she poured our wine like a hired girl. And now the fire has done what the courts were too slow to finish. She is ash. She is headlines. She is nothing.”Priscilla dropped onto the arm of the nearest sofa, legs crossed, smiling like a cat that had finally been allowed to stop pretending it didn’t have claws.“And when,” she asked, tilting her head toward Geoffrey, “is the wedding, b
“You look radiant, my dear. Exactly as a future Mrs. Smith should.” Her gaze flicked to her son. “The press is already framing this as a redemptive love story broken man finds true happiness after unimaginable tragedy. It’s cleaner than I dared hope.”Geoffrey accepted a fresh glass of champagne from a waiter without looking at him. “Clean is profitable. Clean means no one looks too closely at the timeline. No one questions why the divorce papers were signed in such careful silence. No one asks who was actually driving the car that night.”Priscilla laughed under her breath, the sound bright with malice. “They’re too busy congratulating you for surviving a monster. One of the major lifestyle accounts just posted that Lottie was ‘a cancer the Smith family finally cut out.’ The comments are pure bloodsport. No one is defending her. No one is asking for a deeper investigation. They wanted a villain and we gave them one wrapped in a tragic bow.”Vivienne sipped her champagne, eyes glitter
The cameras found them at the charity gala three nights after the fire.Geoffrey Smith stepped out of the black town car with Vivienne Cole on his arm as though the city had been holding its breath for this exact moment. Her gown was the color of fresh arterial blood silk that clung to every curve and caught the flashbulbs like it had been designed to start wars. His hand rested low on the small of her back, fingers spread in open possession. When she turned her face up to his and smiled, he leaned down and kissed her full on the mouth in front of every lens in the city, slow enough that no one could mistake it for anything polite.The pack of reporters surged forward like sharks scenting blood.“Mr. Smith! How long have you and Ms. Cole been together?”“Was the divorce finalized before the trial or after the verdict?”“Do you feel any guilt about moving on so quickly after your wife’s death?”“Is it true the family completely cut ties the moment she confessed to murder?”Geoffrey sto







