Read Chapter Two to uncover how the entire story continues.

-7-

David hesitated, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides, before reluctantly stepping back and letting me take the lead.

I walked down the steps of the porch, crossed the snowy walkway, and unlocked the front gate. I pulled it open just enough to block the path, standing squarely in the gateway with my arms crossed over my chest, looking down at Selina with cold, unblinking detachment.

When Selina saw me open the gate, she lunged forward, desperately grabbing the iron bars with both hands.

“Clara! Oh, thank God you’re here!” Selina shrieked, her voice cracking with hysterical panic. “You have to help me! You have to talk to David! He locked me out of our house, my credit cards are all declined, and the police just served me with legal separation papers!”

I didn't move an inch. I didn't offer a single word of sympathy. I simply stared at her, watching the woman who had smirked in my living room thirty-six hours ago now begging for scraps of mercy from the very person she had tried to destroy.

“You’re standing on my brother’s property, Selina, and you’re violating a domestic injunction by coming within five hundred yards of his family,” I said, my voice cutting through her panicked rant like a sheet of industrial glass. “If you don't turn around and walk away right now, I’ll call the county sheriff and have you arrested for trespassing and harassment.”

“You can’t do that! I’m family!” Selina wailed, tears streaming down her cheeks as she shook the iron gate. “Julian lied to me! He told me his wife was a helpless stay-at-home mom who didn't care about money, and that you guys were practically divorced already! He promised me we’d be safe in Atlanta!”

A cold, humorless laugh escaped my lips.

“Oh, Selina,” I shook my head, looking at her with profound, pitying disgust. “You didn't care that Julian was married. You didn't care that he had two children. You cared about his corporate title, his Park Avenue lifestyle, and the three-million-dollar penthouse you thought you were going to steal from my children. You were a willing, enthusiastic partner in his financial crimes from day one.”

Selina collapsed against the iron bars of the gate, sliding down until she was kneeling in the cold, dirty snow on the sidewalk, sobbing uncontrollably. “I have nothing left, Clara. David took everything. My car is being repossessed, my apartment lease was canceled, and I’m going to be blacklisted from every corporate firm in the city.”

“Yes, you are,” I agreed, my voice remaining entirely steady and unyielding. “And the best part is, you did it all to yourself. Now, get off my brother’s property before I dial the sheriff.”

I turned my back on her, walking slowly back up the snowy pathway toward the porch where David was standing silently, watching the wreckage of his marriage dissolve into the winter air.

As I climbed the steps, the heavy front door opened, and David let out a long, shuddering breath, the last remaining ghost of his marital betrayal finally exorcised from his chest.