Chapter 4

"Hi, I need to report someone for destroying my property," I told the dispatcher. "I have evidence, and they're still here. Please send someone."

The police arrived at the house shortly afterward. They inspected the damage, collected evidence, and took our statements.

By the time they finished, Marie agreed to cover the loss. Then she walked out with Tyler as if it was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

-

The sun was coming up when I got home.

I stood in front of the empty safe, replaying what Marie said with a mocking laugh.

"A divorce? You'd never go through with it. Your parents had a rich girl all picked out for you, and you walked away from her and your family to marry me. Leave me now, and everyone in the Lynch family will laugh in your face."

She had a point.

When we got married, Marie had next to nothing. I came from a wealthy family in the cosmetics business, and I nearly cut ties with them to marry her.

If I went back now because she cheated on me, they would never let me hear the end of it. Every warning they gave me would come back with an "I told you so."

Their opinions hadn't stopped me from marrying her, though. They wouldn't stop me from leaving, either.

I hadn't changed. Marie had.

While I went over the divorce paperwork with my lawyer, John Marshall, I saw a new post on Tyler's social media. He smiled at the camera, a brand-new gold ring on his finger.

[Whatever happens, I'm glad I've got you.]

Marie left a comment underneath.

[You, me, and our little boy. My whole world.]

When I first hired Tyler, he blocked me from seeing his posts. With Marie backing him up, he apparently felt free to rub their relationship in my face.

I took a screenshot and sent it to John. A moment later, he sent me a breakdown of the company's ownership.

What I found was worse than I expected.

My resources and patents built that cosmetics company into a successful business. Marie owned 70% of the shares, and seven months ago, she transferred all of them to Tyler.

He now owned a controlling stake.

I pulled up his profile and scrolled through his older posts. Everything from the past year was suddenly visible, as if he wanted me to see it.

[Marie signed the company over to me as a gift. She's still running it. Didn't need a whole company, but I'm not complaining. Marrying her would've been enough.

[Got a son on the way, and Daisy's having kittens. Marie says we've got plenty to celebrate.

[She put all her properties in my name, too. Even offered up the apartments she bought for her daughters for Daisy's kittens.

[Four kittens, four luxury apartments. Daisy's got her kids set up for life.]

Before her business trip, Marie asked me for the property deeds. She said she found two houses next door to each other that she loved and wanted to sell our daughters' four apartments to buy them.

I offered to go see the houses with her. Every time I brought it up, she found another excuse to go without me.

Now I knew why. Those four apartments went to Tyler for his cat's unborn kittens.

The rest of our properties and her entire stake in the company were gifts to him. She even sold the jewelry I had spent years saving for our daughters to buy him more presents.

She handed him everything and left me and the girls with nothing.

My phone rang. It was John.

I answered before he could get a word out.

"Document every transfer. I want to go after her for moving those assets behind my back. And revoke every license the company has to use my cosmetics patents. All of them."