Chapter 1 - The Phantom Wife
A pregnant wife weeping alone in front of a glowing television while her husband smiles at his new bride—was the last moment of weakness Anna Walker would ever allow herself.
She wiped her face, the tears instantly replaced by a cold, terrifying clarity. She drove back to the sprawling Greenwich estate, pulling through the wrought-iron gates at 3:00 p.m., exactly four hours before Irene’s mandatory "family dinner." The house was empty; the staff had been given the day off to ensure privacy for whatever ambush Irene and Damian had planned.
Anna moved through the master suite like a ghost. She packed only what was irreplaceable: her mother's jewelry, her passport, and the ultrasound photo.
Then, she opened her laptop.
Damian had always called her mathematically challenged, preferring to manage their joint finances himself. He had severely underestimated her. Because Damian had continually stalled on countersigning the divorce papers—arrogantly assuming he could keep her on a tether until Savannah's ring was secured—they were still entirely, legally married.
With a few keystrokes, Anna accessed their joint high-yield operational accounts. Since the funds were legally commingled marital assets, there was no firewall. She wired her rightful fifty percent—a staggering forty-two million dollars—into an untraceable offshore trust Liv had established for her an hour earlier.
She left the divorce papers on the kitchen island. Next to them, she placed a pristine copy of the ultrasound, clearly showing two distinct, fluttering heartbeats.
May you like
By 5:30 p.m., Anna was sitting in the plush leather seat of a Gulfstream G650, climbing to forty thousand feet. She looked out the window as the Connecticut coastline faded into the clouds, wrapping a protective hand around her stomach.
"We're free, little ones," she whispered.
