I never told my mother-in-law that the “poor countryside girl” she tried to pay off to leave her son was actually the daughter of a powerful businessman. She threw a check for $5,000 in my face at the family dinner, laughing, “Take this and disappear. My son needs a wife with connections, not a charity case.”

“We need this merger, El,” he finally muttered, voice thin and strained. “Mom’s right about one thing. The Blackwoods are traditional. They want a power couple leading the company. And you… you’re a liability. I need to be free to court the Blackwood heiress if we’re going to save Sterling Technologies.”

Cold spread through my chest. It wasn’t heartbreak—not anymore. It was relief. The blind love I’d carried for three years hardened into something clear, solid, unbreakable.

“So,” I said softly, lifting the check now stained with vinaigrette and arugula, “you’re buying me out for five thousand dollars?”

“Call it generosity,” Victoria sneered, diamonds at her throat catching chandelier light. “Frankly it’s more than you’re worth. A girl with no family, no education, no prospects—we’re doing you a favor.”

Right then my phone vibrated hard against the polished table, the buzz absurdly loud in the tight silence.

Caller ID: Arthur J. Sterling – General Counsel, TexCor Energy.

Victoria’s eyebrows pinched together. “Turn that off. It’s rude to take calls at dinner.”

I didn’t. I reached forward, picked up my phone, and pressed speaker with deliberate slowness.