HE FORCED HIS WIFE TO APOLOGIZE TO HIS MISTRESS AT DINNER—NOW SHE’S TAKING EVERY CENT HE EVER STOLE!

Three miles uptown, inside a chic two-bedroom apartment on the Upper East Side that Richard had rented for her under a subsidiary shell company, Chloe Vane was packing.

Designer luggage was strewn across the plush white carpet. Louis Vuitton duffel bags were crammed to bursting with silk dresses, cashmere coats, and rows of expensive shoes. Chloe was frantically throwing everything she could grab into the bags, her makeup smeared, her hands shaking as she tossed bottles of luxury perfume into the zip compartments.

The front door suddenly rattled. The latch clicked, and Richard burst into the apartment like a hurricane of soaked wool and desperation.

Chloe shrieked, dropping a pair of Christian Louboutin heels. “Richard! How did you get in here?!”

“I have a key, Chloe! I pay the damn rent!” Richard gasped, slamming the door shut and leaning his back against it, his chest heaving like a bellows. “The police... they flagged my watch at a pawnshop. They’re tracking my cell phone. We have to go. Pack light. We take your car and drive across the Canadian border tonight.”

Chloe stopped packing. She stood up straight, crossing her arms over her chest. The panicked, vulnerable girl from the Thanksgiving dinner was completely gone. In her place was a cold, calculating woman whose survival instincts were razor-sharp.

“We?” Chloe said, her voice dripping with venomous amusement. “There is no ‘we,’ Richard.”

Richard froze. “What are you talking about?”

“Look around you,” Chloe said, gesturing to the packed bags. “Do you see any of your suits in these bags? Do you think I’m going to spend the next ten years visiting you through a glass window in a federal penitentiary in Otisville?”

“Chloe, I did this for you!” Richard shouted, stepping forward, his eyes wild. “I wired that fourteen million so you and I could have an empire! I left Clara for you!”

“You wired that money because you were greedy, Richard!” Chloe snapped back, her eyes flashing with pure scorn. “You thought you could use my name to hide your fraud from your partners! Don’t you dare pretend this was about love! You wanted a twenty-four-year-old trophy to show off to your golf buddies because you were terrified of getting old!”

“You ungrateful little—” Richard lunged toward her, but Chloe didn't flinch. Instead, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her smartphone. The screen was already glowing with an active 911 call.

“Take one more step toward me, Richard,” Chloe whispered with terrifying calm, “and I tell the dispatcher that my former boss broke into my apartment, assaulted me, and is threatening my life. Let’s see how quickly the tactical unit arrives.”

Richard stopped dead in his tracks. His mouth hung open. The woman who had purred in his ear forty-eight hours ago, who had stroked his hair and laughed at his wife’s humiliation, was looking at him with the warmth of a rattlesnake.

“Get out of my apartment, Richard,” Chloe said evenly.

“This apartment is leased by Aegis Holdings!” Richard screamed, his voice cracking into pathetic desperation. “It’s my money!”

“Aegis Holdings is under federal receivership,” Chloe replied with a cruel, smug smile. “The marshals called me two hours ago. I signed an agreement with the federal prosecutors. I’m cooperating. I handed over all your private text messages, your travel receipts, and the access codes to your personal cloud backups. In exchange, they’re giving me full immunity from prosecution.”

Richard felt the floor drop out from beneath him. “You... you cut a deal with them?”

“Of course I did,” Chloe laughed, a high, mocking sound that shredded what little sanity Richard had left. “Did you really think I loved you, Richard? You’re an arrogant, balding, pathetic middle-aged man who thought he was a king. You gave me an emerald bracelet that was stolen from your wife. You gave me promises written on worthless paper. Clara was right about you from the very beginning. You are completely, utterly hollow.”

Chloe pointed toward the door. “Now get out before the police arrive. Your time is up.”

Richard looked at her. He looked at the suitcase. He looked at the cold, beautiful monster he had traded his entire life for.