$600k Year-End Bonus, But Only $600 in My Account"

When the CEO laid eyes on my resignation letter, he summoned me into his office.

His face was etched with confusion as he asked me why I was still dissatisfied, pointing out that I had just received a year-end bonus of six hundred thousand dollars.

I stared back at him expressionlessly, telling him there was actually only six hundred dollars left in my account.

A scowl creased the CEOs brow as he immediately called the Director of Finance on speakerphone right in front of me.

A sycophantic voice came through the line, explaining that five hundred ninety-nine thousand, four hundred dollars had been transferred to the CEOs wifes account, and that he had covered his tracks perfectly.

The CEOs face turned a sickly shade of green in an instant.

When Dominic called me into his office, my resignation letter was already sitting on his massive mahogany desk.

He tapped his index finger against the heavy paper. His eyes shifted from the document to my face, clouded with genuine confusion.

"Scarlett, didn't the year-end bonuses just go out? Six hundred thousand dollars. You got the highest payout in the entire company."

"What exactly are you dissatisfied with?"

I stood perfectly straight, keeping my eyes locked on his.

"Six hundred thousand?"

"There are exactly six hundred dollars in my account."

The confusion on Dominic's face instantly warped into a deep, aggressive scowl.

He snatched his phone off the desk and dialed the Director of Finance.

The moment the call connected, Dominic hit the speaker button.

Richard's signature sycophantic voice immediately echoed through the quiet office.

"Mr. Reed, rest assured. It is all handled."

"That five hundred ninety-nine thousand, four hundred dollars has been transferred directly into your wife's private account, down to the exact cent."

"I made sure the books are squeaky clean. Completely untraceable."

The air in the office turned to solid concrete.

I watched Dominic's face transition from bewildered, to horrified, and finally to a sickly, ashen green.

On the other end of the line, Richard kept talking, completely oblivious.

"Honestly, sir, your wife had a great point."

"She said a young girl like Scarlett might get reckless with that kind of cash. Having the company 'safeguard' the bulk of it is really for her own good."

"It was a brilliant move, don't you think?"

"Shut up."

Dominic forced the two words through his teeth. His voice dripped with absolute zero temperatures.

He slammed his finger onto the end-call button.

The office plunged back into a suffocating silence.

I remained standing there, my expression completely blank, as if I were watching a movie that had nothing to do with me.

The truth was, I was waiting.

Waiting for Dominic to give me an explanation.

Or rather, waiting for him to justify this absolute trainwreck to himself.

His chest heaved. He was practically vibrating with rage.

It took him a full thirty seconds to look up at me. The usually sharp, composed eyes of the CEO were currently caught in a violent storm.

He wasn't just looking at me. He was looking right through me, realizing something incredibly ugly about his own life.

"When did you find out?" he asked. His voice sounded like cracked glass.

"When the bank notification popped up on my lock screen," I replied. My tone was flat.

"Six hundred bucks."

"At first, I thought payroll had a glitch in the software."

"So, I pulled up my official pay stub."

"It clearly stated my year-end bonus was six hundred thousand dollars."

Dominic squeezed his eyes shut, fighting a losing battle to keep his composure.

"And your first instinct was to just quit?"

"Yes."

"Without even asking me about it?" A hint of accusation bled into his tone.

"Mr. Reed."

I finally used his formal title.

"I have bled for Apex Tech for five years."

"I climbed from an intern to the Director of Operations. I know for a fact that I have earned every single penny this company has ever paid me."

"I trusted the corporate structure here. I trusted you."

"But I do not trust a financial department that can magically turn a six-hundred-grand bonus into six hundred dollars."

"That is not a glitch."

"That is an insult."

I spoke calmly. No tears. No screaming. Just cold, hard facts.

Dominic fell silent.

He knew damn well it wasn't a glitch. Richard had spelled it out perfectly on the speakerphone. Transferred to your wife's account.

He just didn't want to believe it.

He couldn't fathom that the elegant, highly educated, picture-perfect woman he married would go behind his back to pull off something so incredibly cheap.

Stealing an employee's bonus? A massive six-figure sum?

That wasn't just simple greed. That was actively taking a sledgehammer to the foundation of his company.

He took a deep breath and picked up his phone again.

This time, his thumb hovered over the screen. He hesitated.

I knew exactly who he was about to call.

Victoria. His wife.

I watched him quietly. I didn't rush him. I didn't interrupt.

He had to rip this band-aid off himself.

Finally, his jaw tightened, and he pressed the call button.

Speakerphone again.

The phone rang twice before connecting.

A voice sweet enough to cause cavities drifted out of the speaker.

"Hey honey. You're calling early today. Miss me already?"

It was Victoria.

I lowered my gaze, hiding the ice in my eyes.

This was the exact same voice that had called me just a few days ago, hissing: "Scarlett, don't push your luck. Dominic pays you to be a worker bee, not to bleed him dry. That six hundred dollars is your phone stipend for the month. Learn your place."

Dominic swallowed hard.

"Vic," he started, his vocal cords tight. "I need to ask you something."

"Ask away, babe. What's going on?" She sounded genuinely cheerful.

"What happened to Scarlett's year-end bonus?"

He articulated every single syllable.

There was a microsecond of dead silence on the other end of the line.

It was incredibly brief. Almost imperceptible.

But both Dominic and I caught it.

"Scarlett?"

Victoria's voice chimed back in. She had dialed up the innocent confusion to an award-winning level.

"Her bonus? How would I know anything about that? Honey, you know I never interfere with your corporate stuff."

Her voice was soft, but it wrapped around Dominic's nerves like a venomous snake.

I noticed Dominic's knuckles turning bone-white as he gripped his phone.

"Richard just told me he wired a massive sum of money into your private account."

Dominic's voice was dropping an octave, desperately trying to hold onto his dignity.

"Money? Oh..."

Victoria dragged out the vowel, pretending to search her memory.

"Right, I remember now! Richard did wire me some funds. He mentioned the company had some tricky off-the-books accounting to deal with, and he just needed to park the cash in my account temporarily for liquidity."

"Don't worry, honey. I've got it tucked away safe and sound."

"Does the company need it back right now? I can wire it over immediately."

It was a flawless performance. Bulletproof.

She painted herself as the ultimate supportive wife, quietly handling her husband's dirty corporate laundry behind the scenes.

If Dominic hadn't just heard Richard groveling on speakerphone five minutes ago, he probably would have bought the lie.

But right now, her sweet words sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

"Tricky off-the-books accounting?"

Dominic repeated her words, the sarcasm practically dripping onto the desk.

"Victoria, do you honestly think I am an idiot?"

The venom in his tone clearly shocked her.

"Honey? What is wrong with you? Why are you talking to me like this?"

She expertly pivoted to playing the victim.

"Is... is Scarlett in the room with you?"

She suddenly switched targets, aiming straight for my throat.

"Babe, do not listen to a word that manipulative bitch says! You know exactly what she's trying to do!"

"She is just a pretty young subordinate who constantly flaunts herself in your office. She's desperate to sleep her way to the top!"

"Did she come crying to you? Saying I bullied her?"

"I swear to God, Dominic! I know how hard it is for a young girl to make it in the city. I've always gone out of my way to look out for her. How could she invent such disgusting lies about me?"

Victoria's voice escalated into a hysterical, tearful pitch.

Her ability to completely rewrite reality made the air in the office feel toxic.

Dominic looked physically ill.

He stared at me, his eyes swirling with a chaotic mess of emotions.

Anger. Doubt. The sheer agony of being betrayed by his own family.

I knew exactly what was happening in his head. He was caught in a psychological meat grinder.

On one side: his top executive, the woman who had single-handedly secured millions in revenue for his firm.

On the other side: the woman who shared his bed.

Human nature dictates that people want to believe the ones they sleep next to. Subconsciously, he was trying to find a way to make Victoria the victim and me the homewrecker.

It was the oldest, cheapest trick in the corporate playbook. The "jealous wife claiming the female employee is a homewrecker" card. It was practically unblockable.

"Put Scarlett on the phone. Now."

Victoria snapped an order through the speaker. The sweet wife routine was gone; she was now demanding obedience like royalty.

Dominic shot me a look, silently asking what I wanted to do.

I didn't move a muscle. I just looked back at him.

Then, I slowly shook my head.

Argue with her?

Not a chance.

It would just devolve into a screaming match, and I refused to drag myself down to her level of the gutter.

"Mr. Reed," I said. My voice wasn't loud, but it cut through the noise perfectly. "It seems this is a domestic dispute."

"Since that is the case, please process my resignation."

"As for my stolen compensation, my lawyers will be in touch with your legal department by tomorrow morning."

I turned on my heel and headed for the door.

My goal was already accomplished. The grenade had been dropped right in Dominic's lap.

How he dealt with his wife was his problem. All I cared about was getting my cash and getting out.

"Stop right there!"

Dominic barked from behind his desk.

I stopped walking but didn't bother turning around.

"Nobody leaves this room until we get to the bottom of this!"

His voice was a desperate, commanding bark.

I slowly turned around, meeting his gaze with absolute ice.

"What else is there to discuss, Mr. Reed?"

"Do you seriously think she is lying about you?" He pointed at the phone, his chest heaving.

"You already know what the truth is," I replied.

"I need proof!" Dominic's eyes were bloodshot. "Scarlett, I know how you operate. You are surgical. You wouldn't walk in here and drop a resignation letter on my desk with nothing but a bank screenshot!"

"Give me the smoking gun. Give me something that forces me to believe you!"

He was practically begging.

He was cornering me, but more importantly, he was cornering himself. He needed me to hand him the sledgehammer that would finally shatter his delusions about his marriage.

Watching a powerful man break down like this didn't make me feel an ounce of pity.

I reached into my designer tote bag and pulled out a secondary device.

It was a cheap, prepaid burner phone I strictly used for two-factor authentication codes.

I hit a single button on the keypad.

A crystal-clear audio recording blasted through the phone's tiny speaker.

It was Victoria. But the sweet, innocent tone was completely absent. She sounded vicious, arrogant, and cruel.

"Let's get one thing straight, Scarlett."

"My husband's company is my company. I decide who gets paid and who gets starved."

"Six hundred thousand dollars? For you? Don't make me laugh."

"You are nothing but a dog on Dominic's leash. I am tossing you a six-hundred-dollar bone. You should be wagging your tail and thanking me."

The recording bounced off the glass walls of the office.

The desperate hope on Dominic's face died instantly. He looked like a corpse.

On the speakerphone, Victoria's fake crying abruptly stopped.

She had heard it too.

"Scarlett! You little bitch! You recorded me?!"

Victoria's shrill, panicked scream exploded from the desk phone. Her mask had completely melted off, exposing the ugly, raving lunatic underneath.

Dominic looked like someone had just severed his spine. He swayed on his feet and braced both hands against the edge of his desk just to stay upright.

He stared blankly at the burner phone in my hand. His lips trembled, but no sound came out.

The audio file kept playing.

My own voice, calm and detached, echoed in the room.

"Victoria, that bonus is legally contracted compensation for my labor. You have zero legal authority to withhold it."

Then came Victoria's mocking laughter.

"Legal? In this building, I am the law! One word from me, and not only do you lose your money, but you get blacklisted from the entire tech sector!"

"Don't flatter yourself just because you closed a few deals for my husband. To him, you are just a replaceable cog in a machine."

"Take your six hundred bucks and get out. If you try to make a scene, I will personally ruin you."

"I will make sure the entire industry thinks you are a gold-digging slut who tried to sleep her way into the C-suite and got fired for it."

The recording clicked off.

The office fell into a graveyard silence.

The only sound was the heavy, frantic static of Victoria's breathing coming through the speakerphone.

I slipped the burner phone back into my bag without breaking eye contact with Dominic.

All the color had drained from his face.

Pain, humiliation, rage, and the devastating realization of ultimate betrayal violently clashed in his eyes. In the end, it all settled into a bottomless, hollow exhaustion.

He aged a decade in sixty seconds.

His own wife had used the most vile, venomous language imaginable to degrade his most valuable executive.

She hadn't just stolen the money. She had weaponized his name, acting like a tyrant, treating the very foundation of his company like dirt beneath her designer heels.

Replaceable cogs. A dog on a leash.

Hearing those words spoken in his wife's voice was the ultimate slap in the face.

"Dominic... babe... please let me explain... it's not what you think..."

Victoria finally found her voice again. She was stammering, desperate.

"She... she provoked me! She insulted me first! That audio is edited! It's a deepfake!"

Her lies were so pathetic they were almost insulting.

Dominic slowly reached out. He picked up the desk phone and pressed it to his ear.

His movements were sluggish, like he was moving underwater.

"Victoria."

His voice was wrecked. It sounded like he had swallowed broken glass.

"When we got married, I handed you an unlimited black card. I told you to buy whatever you wanted. No limits."

"I told you the wife of the CEO of Apex Tech should never have to look at a price tag."

"I give you an eight-figure allowance every single year."

"So tell me. Why the hell did you need to steal six hundred grand from Scarlett?"

Every word struck like a hammer blow.

It hit Victoria. And it hit me.

She wasn't hurting for cash. She didn't need the money.

She did this for the power.

She did it for the twisted, sociopathic thrill of holding someone's livelihood hostage. She wanted to prove that my entire career, my entire existence, meant absolutely nothing compared to her status.

Victoria was completely speechless.

"I... I just wanted to put her in her place..." she whispered, resorting to her final, desperate defense. "People were talking, Dominic. They said she was getting too much credit. That she didn't respect you anymore. I just wanted to break her ego a little bit, so she wouldn't become a threat to you..."

"Heh."

A short, brutal laugh escaped Dominic's throat.

"Break her ego?"

"You target my core Director of Operations, you cut off the right arm of my company, and you expect me to believe you did it for my benefit?"

"Victoria. You absolutely disgust me."

He didn't give her another second to speak. He slammed the phone down onto the receiver.

He slowly lifted his head. His eyes were completely bloodshot.

"I am sorry."

He forced the words out.

"This is my failure."

"I failed to manage my own house, and you suffered for it."

I didn't respond. I just looked at him.

An apology? What was the point?

The damage was done. The second trust shatters in the corporate world, you can never glue it back together.

"I will wire you the missing funds immediately."

Dominic swallowed hard.

"I am also adding another six hundred thousand as an inconvenience bonus."

"Richard is fired. I am turning him over to the feds by the end of the day."

"As for Victoria..."

He paused. A muscle jumped in his jaw.

"I will make sure you get justice there, too."

"Scarlett. Please. For the sake of the last five years..."

"Don't leave."

He finally laid his cards on the table.

The apologies, the double bonus, the firing of the CFO. It was all a desperate bid to keep me in the building.

The massive enterprise software contract I had just secured was entering its critical execution phase next month. I built that deal from the ground up. I knew where all the bodies were buried.

If I walked out that door, a multi-billion-dollar project would crash and burn.

That was what he actually cared about.

I looked at the desperate plea in his eyes and slowly shook my head.

"It's too late, Dominic."

My heart was ice cold. Staying in this building for even one more second made my skin crawl.

"The resignation stands."

"I won't be logging on tomorrow."

My tone was absolute. Zero room for negotiation.

The last remaining drops of color vanished from Dominic's face.

He knew he had lost me.

His wife had personally taken his sharpest weapon and snapped it over her knee.

I turned around, opened the heavy glass door, and walked out.

Behind me, Dominic slumped heavily into his leather chair, surrounded by the wreckage of his pride.

I didn't look back.

The moment I stepped out of the Apex Tech high-rise, the California sun hit my face.

I took a deep breath. I felt incredibly light.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

A banking notification.

Incoming wire transfer to account ending in 3945: 0-0,200,000.00. Available Balance: 0-0,200,600.00.

The money was there.

My original bonus, plus the penalty fee.

Dominic moved fast.

But I knew exactly what this was. It wasn't just compensation.

It was hush money.

He was terrified I would leak the audio to the press, tank the company's stock, and turn his marriage into a tabloid circus.

I smirked and swiped the notification away.

He thought cash could fix everything.

But he was about to learn that there are some things a wire transfer cannot buy.

Like loyalty.

Or what I was about to do next.

I didn't go home.

I hailed a black car and gave the driver an address in the financial district.

We pulled up to a massive, imposing limestone building. It didn't have the sleek, modern glass aesthetic of Apex Tech. It screamed old money and ruthless power. A heavy brass plaque by the entrance read: Reed Holdings.

Reed Holdings was the parent conglomerate of Apex Tech. It was the absolute core of the Reed family empire.

Dominic's father, Tony Reed, the legendary tycoon who built the empire from scratch, had technically retired. But his private office was still on the top floor.

I walked into the grand lobby. The concierge immediately stood up.

"Ms. Scarlett. Mr. Reed is expecting you."

I nodded and bypassed security, heading straight for the private executive elevator.

Half an hour ago, while riding away from Apex Tech, I had called Tony's chief of staff.

I told him I had a catastrophic operational risk to report regarding Apex Tech, and I needed five minutes with the Chairman.

I got my confirmation in less than three minutes.

The elevator doors slid open to a dark wood-paneled executive suite.

Tony Reed sat behind a massive desk, nursing a glass of neat bourbon. He was in his late sixties, with silver hair and eyes like a hawk evaluating its prey.

"Have a seat, Scarlett."

He gestured to the leather chair across from him. His tone was perfectly level.

I sat down and rested my bag on my lap.

"Tony," I started.

"You mentioned a catastrophic risk," he said, taking a slow sip. "Let me guess. My son screwed up again?"

He used the word again. Clearly, Dominic's management style was not a secret to his father.

I didn't answer with words. I opened my bag and placed three items on the pristine desk.

First, my bank statement, with the $600 deposit circled in red ink.

Second, the cheap burner phone.

Third, a freshly printed screenshot of the 0-0.2 million wire transfer I had received twenty minutes ago.

I slid them across the polished wood.

"Tony. This is a fatal flaw in Apex Tech's financial security."

"This is a total breakdown of executive management."

"And this," I tapped the printout of the 0-0.2 million transfer, "is your son attempting to use corporate funds as a golden parachute to bury his wife's crimes."

I didn't sugarcoat a single syllable.

I didn't mention Victoria by name. I didn't frame it as a domestic issue. I stripped all emotion out of it.

I framed it purely as a corporate liability. A financial disaster.

Because when you are talking to a titan like Tony Reed, the only language that matters is leverage and risk.

Tony's hawk-like eyes scanned the three items.

He picked up the bank statement first, his brow furrowing slightly.

Then, he picked up the burner phone. I leaned forward and pressed play.

Victoria's vicious rant echoed in the quiet, opulent office.

"...You are nothing but a dog on Dominic's leash..."

When the recording hit that specific line, the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees.

Tony wasn't angry that Victoria was a bitch. He was furious that someone had the audacity to refer to the core intellectual capital of his empire as a dog.

That kind of arrogance destroys empires.

When the audio finished, he remained silent.

Finally, he picked up the screenshot of the wire transfer.

"One point two million," Tony murmured. "He paid what he owed, and he doubled it as an apology. Dominic isn't entirely cheap."

"Tony, this isn't about him being generous." I corrected him without hesitation. "It is about him being compromised."

"He thinks throwing cash at a problem makes it disappear. But the money isn't the root issue."

"The issue is that your Chief Financial Officer is willing to launder a million dollars to appease the CEO's wife."

"The issue is that an executive's spouse holds enough unchecked power to fire, starve, and blacklist your most vital personnel."

"Today, this happened to me. Tomorrow, it happens to the lead developers. Next week, it happens to the VP of Sales."

"When a corporate hierarchy can be hijacked by a spouse's temper tantrum, that company is dead in the water."

My words were heavy artillery.

Tony went dead silent.

He looked at me, really looked at me. The predatory gleam in his eyes softened into something resembling genuine respect.

He set his bourbon glass down.

"You are a very smart girl."

His voice was a low rumble.

"Much sharper than my son, who currently has his head shoved entirely up his own ass."

"I understand the situation."

He gave me his word.

"I built Apex with my own bare hands. I will not watch it be cannibalized from the inside."

"I don't care whose name is on the marriage certificate."

His words were spoken softly, but they carried the weight of an executioner's axe.

I knew I had won.

I stood up, smoothing out my skirt.

"Tony, my resignation is already filed. As of noon today, I no longer work for Apex Tech."

"Thank you for your time."

I gave him a crisp nod and turned toward the elevator.

"Hold on a second." Tony's voice stopped me.

"What's your next move?" he asked.

"Take some time off. See what the market looks like," I replied honestly.

"Right," he nodded slowly. "You've earned a break. It's been a hell of a run these last five years."

"Save my direct line in your contacts. When you get bored of sitting on a beach, call me."

"There will always be a seat for you at Reed Holdings."

That was a massive, unexpected victory.

But I kept my face totally neutral.

"Thank you, Tony."

I walked onto the elevator.

The moment the doors slid shut and I was back on the street, I finally let out a long, heavy exhale.

The fuse was lit. The explosion was now strictly Reed family business.

And I was safely outside the blast radius.

When Dominic walked through the front door of his sprawling estate, the house was dead quiet.

Victoria was sitting on the velvet sofa in the main living room, wearing a silk robe. A half-empty glass of red wine sat on the coffee table. She was clearly waiting for him.

The second he walked in, she sprang up. Her face was a mask of panic and victimhood.

"Dom, baby, you're home... Please, you have to let me explain. It's really not what it sounded like..."

Dominic completely ignored her.

He walked over to the adjacent armchair, slowly slipped off his tailored suit jacket, and tossed it aside. He undid his tie with slow, mechanical precision.

Every movement was heavy, deliberate, and suffocating.

Victoria felt the panic rising in her throat.

"Say something, please... you're scaring me..." She reached out to grab his forearm.

Dominic took a sharp step back, dodging her touch like she was contagious.

His eyes were completely hollow as he stared at her.

"What is left to explain?"

His voice was terrifyingly calm.

"Explain how you conspired with Richard to siphon company payroll into your private accounts?"

"Or maybe explain how you weaponized my name to threaten and humiliate my best executive?"

"Victoria, I had no idea you were such a brilliant criminal."

The words sliced into her like a scalpel.

All the color drained from Victoria's face.

"I... I wasn't trying to steal! I just made a stupid mistake!"

She burst into tears, large drops rolling perfectly down her cheeks.

"I was jealous! Okay? I was so incredibly jealous! She gets to spend all day with you. She solves your problems. Everyone in your inner circle talks about how you can't run the business without her!"

"I was terrified! I thought she was going to steal my husband!"

"I just wanted to teach her a lesson. I wanted to remind her who the wife is! I swear to God, I wasn't thinking!"

She sobbed, playing the tragic role of a woman driven mad by love.

A few years ago, that performance would have earned her a tight hug and a diamond necklace.

Tonight, Dominic just watched her perform with absolute disgust.

"Jealous?"

He scoffed.

"So your jealousy is worth exactly five hundred ninety-nine thousand, four hundred dollars?"

"You wanted to prove you were the lady of the house, so you treated her like a stray dog?"

"Drop the act, Victoria. It's pathetic."

"I didn't come home to listen to your excuses."

Dominic reached into his briefcase. He pulled out a thick stack of legal documents and dropped them onto the glass coffee table with a heavy thud.

The bold, black letters across the top page were impossible to miss.

PETITION FOR DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE.

Victoria's fake sobbing stopped instantly.

She stared at the divorce papers, then looked up at Dominic in sheer horror.

"A divorce? You want a divorce?"

Her voice pitched up into a hysterical screech.

"Over that bitch? Are you out of your mind?!"

"We have been married for seven years! Seven years, Dominic! And you're throwing me out over an employee?"

"I am not crazy," Dominic said, his expression completely dead. "You are."

"You can play your pathetic high-society games with anyone you want. But you touched the core of my business."

"You alienated every single person who bleeds for my company."

"You turned me into a joke who can't even protect his own staff!"

"This isn't about another woman."

"This is about Apex. And it is about me."

Victoria's facade totally crumbled.

She stared at the cold, ruthless man in front of her and finally realized that tears weren't going to save her.

Her face twisted into something feral.

"Fine! You want to play hardball, Dominic? Let's play!"

"You think dumping me is going to be cheap? Half of Apex Tech belongs to me! It is marital property!"

"You want to kick me to the curb? I will drag you through court for years! I will take half your empire! I'll leak this to the press and tank your stock overnight! I will leave you bankrupt!"

She was screaming now, completely unhinged, revealing the sheer greed that had always lived beneath her skin.

Dominic just watched her throw her tantrum.

"Half the stock?"

He let out a dark, mocking laugh, like he had just heard a joke.

"Victoria, did you suffer a head injury? Have you forgotten the prenuptial agreement we signed?"

"Every single share of Apex Tech is classified as a pre-marital asset. You don't get a single penny of equity."

"As for the mansions, the sports cars, the jewelry... I've bought you tens of millions of dollars' worth of toys over the last seven years."

"The contract states you get to keep all of that."

"I will also cut you a final severance check. You'll never have to work a day in your life."

"Sign the papers. It is the last shred of dignity you're going to get."

Victoria froze.

The prenup.

Of course she remembered it.

When they signed it, Dominic had kissed her forehead and told her it was just standard legal red tape to keep his father's lawyers happy. He told her not to worry about it.

She had been so blinded by the glamorous wedding that she signed it without letting her own lawyer read it.

She thought it was just a meaningless stack of paper.

Tonight, that paper was a death warrant.

He had been protecting his assets from her since day one.

The unconditional love was a myth.

"Dominic!"

Victoria's eyes were practically glowing with venom.

"You set me up!"

"I will never sign this! I would rather die! I will go to the tabloids! I will tell them everything! I will ruin your reputation!"

Dominic looked at her with ultimate exhaustion.

"Do whatever you want."

He turned around and headed for the front door, not looking back once.

"But let me give you one final piece of advice."

He stopped with his hand on the doorknob.

"Richard is already in federal custody."

"He rolled over immediately. He handed the feds a mountain of evidence proving you manipulated him into cooking the books and committing wire fraud."

"He also mentioned he kept meticulous ledgers on all the other little 'investments' you've been making behind my back using company leverage."

"Victoria. Unless you want to spend the next fifteen years wearing an orange jumpsuit in a federal penitentiary..."

"You will sign those papers by tomorrow morning."

He opened the door and walked out into the night.

The heavy oak door slammed shut behind him.

Victoria collapsed onto the marble floor.

She stared at the divorce papers, the absolute silence of the massive house crushing the last remaining breath out of her lungs.