Chapter 1 - The First Domino
The silence on the line felt like a heavy velvet curtain falling on a terrible play.
I blocked his number and tossed the phone into my leather handbag.
The new owners were already carrying their expensive rugs through the front door of the mansion.
I handed the spare keys to the bewildered real estate agent and walked out into the crisp Chicago air.
For the first time in over a decade, I had no schedule, no gala to plan, and no husband to manage.
Dana had booked me a luxury suite at a boutique hotel downtown under my maiden name.
I checked in and immediately ordered a bottle of expensive champagne to celebrate my new reality.
As I poured my first glass, my laptop pinged with an encrypted email from Dana.
She had been tracking the wire transfers Evan made to France over the last forty-eight hours.
The money for the luxury apartment in Nice was just the beginning of his financial betrayal.
He had attempted to move three million dollars from his corporate equity account into an offshore trust.
The trust was registered to a shell company owned entirely by Brooke Ellis.
I took a sip of my champagne, letting the cold liquid steady my shaking hands.
Evan was not just having a romantic affair; he was orchestrating a massive corporate embezzlement scheme.
Suddenly, a heavy and aggressive knock echoed against my hotel room door.
I froze, realizing that not a single soul was supposed to know where I was hiding.
May you like
I walked slowly across the plush carpet and peered through the brass peephole.
Standing in the hallway was a uniformed Chicago police officer holding a thick stack of legal documents.
