002_The Exit and the Entry

Avery’s POV

I walked through the hospital's lobby with my head held high. I could feel the eyes of the receptionist on me as she whispered something into her headset while looking at my wrinkled clothes and the bandage on my arm.

I knew she had probably seen the news leak Julian mentioned, and to her, I was just the "unstable" wife who had finally lost her mind. But I didn't stop to explain myself to a woman who wouldn't be able to afford my shoes in a week.

I pushed through the heavy glass doors. The humid city air hit me like a wall, but I didn't look for Julian’s car or wait for a driver that was never coming. I walked straight to the edge of the curb and pulled out the burner phone again. My thumb hovered over the contact list that I hadn't touched in three years.

I dialed the number for Leo, my family’s old head of security. It didn't even ring twice before he picked up with a voice that sounded like he had been sitting by the phone for years waiting for this specific call.

"Miss Thorne? Is it time?"

"It’s time, Leo," I said as I watched a black sedan with tinted windows pull up to the hospital entrance across the street. I knew it was Julian’s car because I recognized the vanity plate he had bought to brag about his first million.

"The marriage is dead and Julian has already started a media war to bury me, so I need you to activate the blackout on the Sterling servers and send a car to the corner of 5th and Main. I’m not going back to the villa, and I want my penthouse at the Grand Continental opened and ready within the hour."

"Consider it done, Miss Thorne, and the accounts have already been shifted so Julian's personal cards will start flagging for fraud by the time he hits his next red light," Leo replied. I could hear the sound of him barking orders to a team in the background.

"Also, should we release the files on the Sarah Vance medical fraud yet?"

It's funny how I had suspected his betrayal, had investigated everything. But a part of me—the foolish part—wanted to believe it was a lie, that he actually did care for me. Well, now I was awake, and ready to burn that dream... and make it his nightmare.

"Not yet, Leo. I want him to feel like he’s winning for just a little bit longer so the fall hurts more when it finally happens," I said, and then hung up.

I tucked the phone away as a yellow taxi pulled up in front of me.

I got into the back seat. The driver looked at me through the rearview mirror with a look of pure judgment before gesturing toward the meter with a gruff sigh. "I need to see cash upfront, lady. I’ve had three people try to stiff me today and you don't exactly look like you’re heading to a gala."

I reached into my bag and pulled out the fifty-dollar bill Julian had left me. I felt a bitter smile touch my lips as I handed it over to the man.

"Keep the change. Just get me to the Grand Continental as fast as you can. And try not to hit any potholes, I’ve had a very long day already."

The driver’s eyes widened at the sight of the fifty for a three-mile trip. He didn't say another word as he hit the gas and wove through the afternoon traffic while I watched the city blur past the window.

We passed one of the giant digital billboards that Julian used for his company’s advertisement. I saw his face flash across the screen with a headline about him being the 'Visionary of the Year.' It made my stomach turn to think about how much of that vision was actually mine.

I had spent three years ghostwriting his speeches and fixing his broken business models while he was at the hospital pretending to care for his sister.

The irony was that I had built the very pedestal he was now using to look down on me.

I couldn't wait to take it from beneath him.

When we pulled up to the Grand Continental, the doorman stayed exactly where he was, probably assuming I was lost or looking for the service entrance. I climbed out of the taxi and walked toward the gold-trimmed doors with my heart pounding in my ears.

Pure undiluted fury.

I could see my reflection in the glass. I looked like a mess. My hair was tangled from the hospital bed and my skin pale from the blood loss. But I didn't let my shoulders slump for a single second. I walked right up to the front desk. The woman standing there looked at me like I was something she needed to clean up off the floor.

"Can I help you find the exit, ma'am?" she asked, her voice dripping with that fake politeness that people in this city used when they thought you were poor.

But I ignored her.

"I’m checking into the Presidential Suite under the name Thorne," I said, and watched her expression shift from annoyance to total confusion as she looked at my hospital-issue hoodie and then back at her computer screen.

"I’m sorry, but that suite is privately owned and it isn't available for booking by the public, so unless you have a—" She stopped mid-sentence as I pulled a black titanium card from my pocket and slid it across the marble counter.

She picked up the card, her hands starting to shake when she realized it wasn't just a credit card, but a master key to the Thorne family’s holdings. She immediately began typing so fast, her long nails clicking like a machine gun.

"My deepest apologies, Ms. Thorne. We weren't informed you would be arriving today. The room is being refreshed as we speak. So would you like to wait in the private lounge while we prepare your luggage?"

"I don't have any luggage because my husband decided to throw it all away this morning. So, I want you to call the boutiques downstairs and have them send up a selection of clothes in my size immediately," I said. Just as she was nodding, I heard a loud commotion coming from the entrance behind me.

I turned and saw Julian walking in with Sarah on his arm. She was wearing a silk dress that I knew for a fact was currently sitting on my credit card statement. Julian looked like he had seen a ghost when he spotted me standing at the desk. He let go of Sarah’s arm and marched towards me with his face turning a dark, angry red.

"Avery? What the hell are you doing here?" he shouted, making a few guests turn around to stare at us. "I told you to go to a motel. Did you seriously steal one of my cards to try and book a room here? I’ve already called the police to report your 'instability' so don't make this worse for yourself."

"I’m not using your cards, Julian, and I’m certainly not here to see you," I said, and turned back to the manager who was now standing there looking terrified. "Is there a problem with my reservation, or is this man bothering your guests?"

The manager looked at Julian and then back at the titanium card on the desk. He cleared his throat with a very loud, awkward sound.

"Mr. Sterling, I’m afraid I have to ask you to lower your voice. And regarding the suite... it appears Ms. Thorne is the legal owner of the floor you’re standing on, so perhaps you should be the one explaining what you're doing in her lobby."

Julian’s jaw dropped. He looked at the card on the counter, and then looked at me like he was seeing me for the very first time. Before he could say another word, his phone started ringing in his pocket with a loud, aggressive tone that signaled an emergency at the office. He pulled it out and his face went from red to a sickly, pale white as he read the notification on his screen.

"The servers... they're all down," he whispered, and then looked at me with a flash of realization in his eyes that made the corner of my mouth twitch upward. "Avery, what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything, Julian, I’m just a 'mentally unstable' woman standing in a hotel lobby," I said as the elevator chimed behind me. "But you might want to check the news again, because I think your stock price just hit the floor."

I stepped into the elevator and watched the doors close on his panicked face, and...

...for the first time in three years, I felt like I could finally breathe.