Chapter 5
By sunrise, the mansion looked different.
Not poorer.
Not smaller.
Just exposed.
Without Claire’s flowers, throws, music, fresh coffee, and quiet presence, the house was only marble, glass, and money.
Everett had once believed he owned the life inside it.
Now he understood Claire had been the life inside it.
At 8:15 a.m., his attorney, Graham Ellis, arrived in a gray suit and the kind of expression lawyers wear when the client has made the problem expensive.
“Do not call her again,” Graham said.
“She’s my wife.”
“She is your wife with excellent documentation and better counsel.”
Everett hated him for that.
Graham placed a legal packet on the desk.
“Claire filed for divorce at 7:02 this morning. She is requesting enforcement of the postnuptial agreement.”
Everett frowned.
“We don’t have a postnup.”
Graham looked at him.
“Yes, you do.”
Everett opened the packet.
His signature stared back at him.
Six months earlier, Claire had asked him to sign revised estate documents after what she called “routine financial planning.” He had barely read them. He remembered joking about how much paperwork rich people needed just to stay married.
He had signed while texting Maren under the table.
Now he read the clause carefully.
Infidelity with documented concealment.
Marital asset penalty.
Immediate division.
Loss of claim to Claire’s separate holdings.
Full repayment of funds used to maintain extramarital arrangements.
Everett’s throat tightened.
“This is ridiculous.”
Graham said nothing.
Everett looked up.
“Can she enforce this?”
Graham’s silence lasted long enough to answer.
Then he said, “She knew what she was doing.”
The words made Everett think of the envelope.
The diamonds.
The frozen thermostat.
May you like
The perfect empty vanity.
She knew.
