Chapter 1 - The Ring on the Silver Tray
The moment my fiancé told me to leave our engagement party, one hundred and fifty people heard him. He had a microphone in his hand. That was the part Preston would regret most. Not the affair, not the lies, not even the money. The microphone. Because if he had humiliated me privately, I might have swallowed the hurt and protected his reputation. Instead, every conversation died under three hundred feet of warm string lights, and Preston Wade looked at me and said, "I think it would be better if you left."
I set my glass down, placed the diamond ring beside a pale blue envelope on the gift table, and canceled our wedding in front of everyone. Walking out to my car, my hands trembled, but my mind cleared into razor-sharp focus. I pulled out my phone and texted Julian Marsh, my trusted legal contact: I need every public filing, permit, lien, financing disclosure, and LLC record connected to Wade Development. His immediate reply lit up my dashboard: Tonight?
May you like
I typed back without blinking: Right now.
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