Chapter 1
My husband dropped seven million dollars on me over the phone like it was small talk, then told me I had two hours to disappear from a house I'd spent eight years turning into a home.
My name is Avery Collins, and the day my marriage ended started like every other Tuesday, standing in a conference room in downtown Charlotte with a laser pointer in my hand and forty slides of quarterly projections behind me. My phone buzzed against the podium. I let it go. It buzzed again. By the third round, my manager, Devon, raised an eyebrow that told me to deal with it before it derailed the whole meeting.
I stepped into the hallway with my pulse already climbing. "Scott? What's wrong?"
He laughed. Not the laugh I married eight years ago at a vineyard in Asheville, the one that used to make me feel like the only person in a crowded room. This laugh had an edge to it, amused at my expense.
"Nothing's wrong," he said. "Everything's perfect. My grandmother passed two weeks ago. She left me everything."
I pressed my palm against the cool hallway wall. "Oh my God, Scott. I'm so sorry. Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want you there." His voice went flat and cold, a tone I'd never heard him use on me in eight years of marriage. "Seven point three million dollars, Avery."
I actually smiled, still stupid enough to think this was good news we'd share. "That's incredible."
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Then he took the floor out from under me.
"Pack your things. You've got two hours. The house is mine, I bought it before the wedding, it's only ever been in my name. Papers are on the counter. Sign them, leave your keys, don't make a scene."
