Chapter 3

Harrison snorted when I agreed to go wait in the wings.

"At least you know when to be reasonable.

"If you'd been this agreeable an hour ago, none of this would have happened."

Celeste immediately kicked off her worn heels and slid them across the floor to me.

"Sorry, Nat. You'll have to make do with mine.

"They rub a little, but it beats going out there barefoot."

I looked at the peeling old shoes and said nothing.

There was a deep scratch across one of them.

I could swallow it for one more hour.

I pushed my feet into shoes a full size too big and stood up.

The soles were rigid and bit into my arches.

Harrison straightened his jacket, satisfied.

"Let's go, future Mrs. Blake."

Outside the dressing room, a long corridor ran toward the staging doors.

Harrison walked ahead of me and took a call.

He thought I'd given up completely, so he didn't bother lowering his voice.

"Yeah. Is our guy at the Montessa Department of Revenue taken care of?

"The second the video plays, file the complaint package.

"And tomorrow at the open, short every Fairbourne position you can get your hands on."

I heard every word of it.

The Fairbournes were the richest family in Wrenford, with holdings in every part of the country.

The Blakes had collapsed years ago. Harrison got into Fairbourne Global entirely through me.

My father raised him like a son.

To give him standing with the board, Dad handed him the core operations.

Everything he wore, drove, and spent came out of my family.

And behind our backs he was setting up a run on our stock and putting my father's life on a schedule.

When the call ended, a coordinator pulled him forward to confirm the run of show.

That left Celeste and me alone in the corridor.

With Harrison gone, she dropped the act.

She folded her arms and looked at me with open satisfaction.

"So you know. What difference does it make?

"You're still walking down that aisle in my old shoes.

"He's been sick of you for years. You're just a rich girl paying for her own humiliation."

I looked at that carefully arranged face and pushed the anger back down.

My voice came out flat.

"A rich girl still beats a woman who lives on what other women throw away.

"You really think he loves you?

"He just hasn't finished draining my family yet."

It landed exactly where I aimed it, and her face went dark.

"Keep talking.

"After today, Fairbourne Global is gone. I want to see what's left of that mouth then.

"Harrison says you'll be living in a basement, kept like a dog."

She stepped closer and dropped her voice.

"And your marrow happens to match Evan's. At least you'll be useful.

"You'll spend the rest of your life on your knees asking me for a meal."

Hearing her say it like she was reading off a grocery list made me laugh.

"Fine. Let's see which one of us ends up on her knees."

I turned my back on her.

My phone buzzed hard against my palm.

From ten years ahead: "Did you hear that? That's who they are."

"Get into the event account. There isn't much time."

"Dad died at this wedding. Their forged records went up on that screen and his heart gave out in front of everyone."

"Today you take it back before they can do it."