Valeria stood directly in front of the car.

Rain ran down her hair and soaked the thin white dress against her body.

Nathaniel’s expression changed instantly.

“Stop the car.”

The driver had already stopped.

Nathaniel reached for the door.

I watched him calmly.

Two years ago, seeing him rush toward her would have made my blood boil.

Tonight, I only pulled my coat tighter around myself.

Nathaniel opened the door.

“Valeria, what are you doing here?”

She didn’t answer.

Her eyes passed over him and landed on me.

Then she raised the letter in her hand.

“Mrs. Pierce…”

I almost corrected her.

Soon, I wouldn’t be Mrs. Pierce anymore.

But I didn’t bother.

Valeria approached the open door.

“I need to talk to you.”

Nathaniel immediately stepped between us.

“You’re soaked. Get in the car.”

“No.”

Her voice trembled.

“I need to talk to Amelia alone.”

Nathaniel frowned.

“About what?”

Valeria clutched the envelope.

“About the baby.”

His face changed.

I looked at her stomach.

Then at Nathaniel.

“Go ahead.”

He turned toward me.

“Amelia, you don’t need to listen to this.”

For years, he had wanted me to stop interfering.

Now that I finally didn’t care, he suddenly wanted to decide what I was allowed to hear.

I gave a small laugh.

“She came all this way. Let her speak.”

Valeria looked at Nathaniel.

“Please.”

He hesitated.

Finally, he stepped away from the car.

Valeria climbed into the back seat and sat where Nathaniel had been moments earlier.

She smelled of rain and expensive perfume.

Neither of us spoke until Nathaniel closed the door.

Then she placed the envelope on my lap.

“I lied.”

I looked at her.

“About what?”

Her fingers curled against the wet fabric of her dress.

“The pregnancy.”

I stared at her.

Outside, Nathaniel stood beneath the awning of a nearby building, speaking to the driver.

He couldn’t hear us.

“What do you mean?”

Valeria swallowed.

“The baby isn’t Nathaniel’s.”

For a moment, I thought I had misunderstood.

Then something almost funny happened.

I felt nothing.

No triumph.

No satisfaction.

Not even anger.

Only exhaustion.

“That seems like his problem.”

Valeria looked startled.

“You don’t understand.”

“No. You don’t understand.”

I pushed the envelope back toward her.

“Yesterday, maybe I would have cared.”

I looked toward Nathaniel through the rain-streaked window.

“Tonight, I’m divorced.”

“Not legally yet.”

Her answer came too quickly.

I turned back.

She had gone pale.

“How do you know?”

Valeria froze.

Nathaniel and I had signed the agreement less than an hour ago.

No one else had been present.

Except the household staff.

And the driver.

“Who told you?”

She avoided my eyes.

That was when I knew.

Nathaniel.

He had contacted her after signing.

Even after breaking his own hand for her.

Even after holding mine in the car and whispering that perhaps we shouldn’t divorce.

He had still found a moment to tell Valeria.

I laughed softly.

“Of course.”

“No, Amelia. It isn’t what you think.”

That sentence almost made me smile.

Everyone loved saying that after being caught.

Valeria opened the envelope herself.

Inside was a medical report.

I didn’t touch it.

“The father is someone from before Nathaniel,” she whispered. “I found out weeks ago.”

“And you let him believe otherwise.”

Tears appeared in her eyes.

“I was afraid.”

“Of losing him?”

She nodded.

I leaned back.

“Then keep lying.”

Her head snapped up.

“What?”

“I don’t care.”

I reached for the door handle.

But Valeria grabbed my sleeve.

“There’s more.”

I looked at her hand until she released me.

She whispered:

“Nathaniel knew.”

That stopped me.

“What?”

“He knows the baby may not be his.”

I slowly turned toward her.

Outside, Nathaniel was looking at the car now.

Watching us.

“He found the first test two weeks ago,” Valeria continued. “We fought.”

“Then why did he tell me the baby might be your only chance?”

Valeria’s mouth trembled.

“Because he needed you to believe he had chosen me.”

For the first time that night, something moved inside my chest.

Not jealousy.

Suspicion.

“Why?”

She shook her head.

“I don’t know everything.”

“You came here in the rain to tell me half a story?”

“I came because I’m scared.”

“Of Nathaniel?”

She looked toward him.

“No.”

Then she whispered:

“Of his father.”

I went still.

Nathaniel’s father, Charles Pierce, had never liked me.

But he had never particularly liked Valeria either.

He cared about only two things.

The Pierce family name.

And control.

Valeria pushed the letter toward me again.

“This isn’t a medical report.”

I finally opened it.

The first page was medical paperwork.

The second was not.

It was a financial statement.

A transfer.

Five million dollars.

From a Pierce family trust.

To Valeria Lane.

Dated three months earlier.

My eyes narrowed.

“What is this?”

Valeria’s voice was barely audible.

“Payment.”

“For what?”

She looked directly at me.

“To keep you married to Nathaniel.”

I stared at her.

“That makes no sense.”

“I know.”

“You’ve spent two years helping destroy my marriage.”

“I was supposed to.”

The car suddenly felt too small.

Valeria continued before I could interrupt.

“Your divorce agreement activates something in Nathaniel’s grandfather’s estate.”

My fingers tightened around the paper.

“What?”

“I don’t know exactly.”

“Then who does?”

She looked outside.

Nathaniel was walking back toward the car.

Valeria panicked.

“His father.”

She shoved the papers into my hands.

“He told me that as long as you stayed angry enough to refuse the divorce, everything would remain under control.”

The pieces began shifting in my mind.

For two years, Nathaniel had offered me everything if I left.

The house.

The investments.

His shares.

He had claimed he wanted freedom.

Yet tonight, the moment I actually signed…

he hesitated.

Can you really do it?

Then in the car:

We could not get divorced.

My skin went cold.

Maybe that hesitation had not been love.

Maybe it had been fear.

The door suddenly opened.

Nathaniel stood outside.

His eyes moved from Valeria to the papers in my hands.

His face changed completely.

“What did you give her?”

Valeria shrank backward.

Nathaniel reached inside.

I pulled the documents away.

“Don’t.”

His voice hardened.

“Amelia.”

I had heard that tone before.

The tone he used when he expected obedience.

But something was different now.

His right hand was broken.

Our agreement was already signed.

And I was no longer trying to save anything.

“What happens when our divorce becomes final?”

Nathaniel froze.

That was enough.

I stepped out of the car.

“Amelia, get back inside.”

“No.”

“Listen to me.”

“You’ve had five years.”

He grabbed my wrist with his left hand.

I stared at it.

Nathaniel immediately released me.

For one second, shame crossed his face.

Then headlights appeared behind us.

A black sedan stopped.

Another arrived behind it.

Nathaniel went pale.

The rear door of the first car opened.

An older man stepped onto the wet pavement beneath a black umbrella.

Charles Pierce.

Nathaniel’s father.

He looked at me.

Then at Valeria.

Then at the envelope in my hand.

His expression became terrifyingly calm.

“So,” he said.

“Someone finally told her.”

Nathaniel moved in front of me.

“Father, stay out of this.”

Charles smiled.

“You signed the divorce agreement?”

Nathaniel said nothing.

Charles looked at me.

I answered.

“Yes.”

For the first time, the old man’s smile disappeared.

He glanced at his watch.

Then he said:

“Then we have less than twelve hours.”

I tightened my grip on the documents.

“Until what?”

Charles Pierce looked at his son.

Nathaniel closed his eyes.

And his father answered for him.

“Until everything Nathaniel owns becomes yours.”