HE LEFT HIS PREGNANT WIFE IN THE FREEZING RAIN TO SAVE HIS MISTRESS’S MASERATI—NEVER REALIZING THE BILLIONAIRE WHO CARRIED HER AWAY WOULD TAKE EVERYTHING HE EVER OWNED

While my life was blooming into absolute joy, darkness was festering in the shadows.

Grant Lawson was released on an emergency medical furlough from the county detention center while awaiting his final sentencing trial. Facing up to fifteen years in state prison for federal fraud, he had nothing left to lose.

His mind had completely fractured under the weight of his envy and hatred.

In his twisted mind, he hadn't destroyed himself; I had destroyed him. Noah Whitaker had stolen his glory, his wealth, and his status.

Sitting in a filthy motel room near the industrial docks, Grant met with Vanessa Vance, who was out on a five-hundred-thousand-dollar bond. Her family’s assets were being liquidated by federal marshals, and her social life was entirely extinct.

“Whitaker is hosting the structural topping-off ceremony at the Elliott Bay pier tomorrow night,” Vanessa hissed, sliding a blueprint of the construction site across the stained table. “Emma will be there on the main observation deck with the city inspectors.”

Grant’s eyes were bloodshot, twitching with manic malice. “What are you saying?”

“My father had private access codes to the maritime explosive charges used for underwater bedrock excavation,” Vanessa whispered, her voice dripping with poison. “They are stored in the sub-level utility barge beneath the central support pillars. If those charges detonate during the ceremony, the entire observation deck will collapse into sixty feet of freezing water.”

Grant stared at the blueprints, his hands trembling. “That would kill hundreds of people.”

“It would kill Whitaker. It would kill Emma,” Vanessa sneered, grabbing Grant’s collar. “And without them, the lawsuits will dissolve, the Whitaker empire will fracture into probate chaos, and we can take our remaining offshore cash and disappear to South America. It’s our only way out, Grant!”