Chapter 3

I handed the documents straight to my lawyer.

I was barely out of the office when something hit the back of my skull and everything went dark.

When I came to my hands were bound and I was kneeling on the floor in front of Melanie.

"You were going to have her arrested? Seraphina, when did you get so vicious?"

Dominic glared down at me and threw a document in my face.

A divorce agreement. He wanted me to walk away with nothing.

The anger that rose in me was almost choking.

"You're the one who cheated, Dominic. What right do you have?"

His voice came out flat and cold.

"I told you to disappear. Instead you went after Melanie."

"Everything you own in this marriage goes to her. Call it damages."

He snapped his fingers and bodyguards materialized from every corner and grabbed my hands and forced them toward the signature line.

I knelt on the cold floor, knees grinding against the tile.

Melanie peeked out from behind him, voice soft.

"She looks so pitiful, sir. I don't need that much money..."

Dominic cut her off.

"Don't. This is what she owes you. And the dowry from her family, that's yours too."

Melanie blinked at him all wide eyes and innocence.

"Thank you for standing up for me, sir."

I was gritting my teeth when the assistant walked in and said something close to Dominic's ear.

The TV clicked on.

It was the attending physician. He stood in front of the camera, composed.

"Seraphina's mother-in-law died of natural illness. Seraphina is attempting to exploit that death to extort Ms. Melanie. As a physician, I will not be party to fraud."

Each word landed like something sharp.

The fight went out of me and I sat on the floor.

Dominic turned the TV off.

"Seraphina. I told you. You can't win against me."

The door burst open and a mob pushed in, phones out and recording.

"That's her. Cashing in on a dead woman."

Someone shoved a camera in my face and someone else threw a cup of soda and a carton of eggs came from the back.

"Disgusting. She has no shame."

"Bet her mother-in-law died just to get away from her."

I got hit and went down and someone poured a drink over my head and the crowd kept filming.

Dominic watched from across the room, Melanie under his arm.

"This is what you get for what you did to Melanie."

He left and at the door Melanie glanced back at me, satisfied.

In half a day I had become someone the whole city wanted to bury.