Chapter 1

The night before our courthouse wedding, Adrian cuts me off financially all because I insult his childhood sweetheart.

That same night, my mother suffers a massive brain hemorrhage.

The hospital needs financial authorization for a critical part of her emergency treatment. I need access to $25,000 immediately. I kneel in the hallway and call Adrian again and again.

He doesn't release a cent.

Instead, he sends my desperate voice messages to Sienna Blake, his childhood sweetheart and a relationship influencer with millions of followers.

That night, she plays my distorted voice messages on her livestream.

"Some women will use family members to get sympathy. The best way to deal with them is to stop engaging."

Adrian drops $15,000 on her livestream.

The comments praise them for being mature, rational, and perfect for each other.

I wait outside the operating room.

Eventually, the doctor walks out and removes his mask.

"I'm sorry. We couldn't save her."

I hold Mom's cold hand and cancel the courthouse wedding we had scheduled for the next morning.

At almost the same time, Adrian texts me.

You've learned your lesson. Don't be late tomorrow.

I'm at the funeral home choosing an urn when Adrian's assistant calls.

"Ms. Bennett, Mr. Hawthorne is already at the courthouse. You have twenty minutes."

I turn a page in the catalog and choose the simplest ebony urn.

"Tell him I'm not coming."

"Mr. Hawthorne says your punishment ended last night. Apologize to Ms. Blake today, and he'll restore your access to the accounts immediately."

The funeral director looks up.

"Did your mother have a favorite color?"

"Blue."

Mom worked at a community mediation center for more than twenty years. She always wore the same faded blue shirt.

She used to say blue was calming. Even angry people seemed less angry when they saw it.

Lewis is still trying to persuade me.

"Ms. Bennett, Mr. Hawthorne even postponed a board meeting this morning. Please don't throw away your marriage over one bad night."

"Then let it be ruined."

I hang up.

I take off the only valuable thing I have left, a sapphire necklace Adrian gave me for my birthday last year.

The sapphire is surrounded by tiny diamonds.

After Sienna once said on a livestream that expensive gifts made women feel obligated to repay men, Adrian made me sign my condo over to her the very next day.

He said it wasn't an exchange.

It was a test of whether I knew how to share.

I pawn the necklace for $12,000.

After paying for the cremation and memorial service, I have barely enough left to cover the next few days.

As I leave the funeral home, Adrian video calls me.

He's standing outside the courthouse in a suit, wearing the silver tie pin I picked out for him last night.

"Where are you?"

"Taking care of something."

"Claire, I've been waiting long enough. Get over here."

"Adrian, I told you. Once she realized crying wouldn't work, she'd disappear instead."

Sienna's voice comes from beside him.

Sienna is wearing a pale blue dress, holding two folders with our wedding paperwork.

One of them is mine.

Last night, after Mom was rushed into surgery, I went home to get my documents and found the locks changed.

Adrian said I shouldn't have free access to our home until I understood what I'd done wrong.

"Why does she have my documents?"

"Sienna picked them up for you."

"Tell her to give them back."

"Come here first."

"I want them back now."

"They're just documents. Why do you have to turn everything into a boundary issue?"

"I'll give it back, Claire. But you owe me an apology first," Sienna says.

"You accused me of letting your mother die last night. Millions of people heard you."

"I was only helping Adrian establish healthy boundaries. You can't blame other people just because your mother got sick."

The edge of Mom's death certificate digs into my palm.

"Sienna, who gave you that recording?"

She looks at Adrian.

He doesn't hesitate.

"I did."

"You were hysterical. Sienna understood how to handle it better than I did."

"So you let her play my cries for help on her livestream?"

"She changed your voice."

He says it like that makes everything okay.

"Besides, part of her livestream revenue goes to women in need. At least something useful came out of it."

Sienna made tens of thousands of dollars from that livestream.

Adrian alone gave her fifteen thousand.

But when my mother needed twenty-five thousand for emergency treatment, he wouldn't release a cent.

An announcement sounds behind him. Our appointment number has been called.

Adrian checks his watch.

"Last chance. Ten minutes."

"Or what?"

"We postpone the wedding, and I keep you cut off."

Then he adds,

"Your mother still needs hospitalization and rehab. How exactly are you planning to pay for that?"

Even now, he's using my mother to threaten me.

Sienna lowers her voice beside him.

"Don't ask about her mother. That's exactly what she's waiting for. The second you show concern, she wins."

Adrian looks away.

"Fine. My family is having a family dinner tonight. Don't be late."

Then he adds,

"Sienna is borrowing your mother's blue notebook for her course."

"That's my mother's."

"It's already at the office."

"Who gave you permission to take it?"

"Your mother always said she'd be happy if her experience could help people."

"Don't turn an older woman's kindness into another weapon against me."

The call ends.

A minute later, Sienna sends me a photo.

Mom's blue notebook, the one she'd used for more than twenty years, is open on Sienna's livestream desk.

Beside the yellowed pages is a brand-new course poster.

TONIGHT AT 8: HOW TO RECOGNIZE EMOTIONAL MANIPULATION

Underneath is another line.

REAL CASE STUDY: CLAIRE BENNETT