“We just need to ensure the audit on the marketing accounts is finalized without any noise.”

“Do not speak to anyone in compliance until I tell you to.”

I stared at the glowing screen of my phone.

The rain beat a steady, soft rhythm against the windowpane of my study.

I remembered the cold look on Lila’s face when we had sat in the diner twenty-four hours earlier.

It was a diner on the edge of the county, far from the country club and the office.

The vinyl booths were cracked, and the air smelled of stale grease and cheap coffee.

Lila had sat across from me, her fingers tightly laced around a heavy ceramic mug.

She looked much younger without the corporate blazers and the expensive handbags Ethan had bought her.

“He told me he was leaving you,” she had said, her voice barely a whisper.

“He said the marriage had been over for years, and that you were only staying for the social standing.”

I had not smiled, nor had I shown anger.

I had simply reached into my purse and placed a copy of Ethan’s true financial disclosure on the table.