Beatrice returned to New York a pariah. She was banned from her country club, ignored by her peers, and terrified to show her face in public.

Julian, however, attempted one final, pathetic act of defiance. He hired a sleazy lawyer who advertised on subway billboards and attempted to sue me in civil court. His claim? That he was entitled to “retroactive artist maintenance” and a portion of my architectural firm, arguing that his “creative energy” had inspired my designs, and that my sudden withdrawal of financial support was an act of “domestic economic abuse.”

I didn’t even have to put on a suit to attend the preliminary hearing.

My attorney simply slid three documents across the judge’s desk. The first was our prenuptial agreement, which Julian had eagerly signed years ago when he naively believed his art would make him a billionaire. The second was a thick folder of time-stamped photographs proving his infidelity in my apartment. The third was a copy of the active NYPD police report detailing his mother’s felony theft of my concierge tablet and the resulting international fraud.