Chapter 1

I satisfying signed the divorce papers satisfying. My husband of three years didn't even look up. His mistress sat on his lap, filing her nails. "Finally," Ryan said. "Now get out of my house."

I set down the pen.

Three years. I'd cooked every meal. Scrubbed every floor. Nursed his sick mother for eleven months straight while he "worked late."

Worked late meant Vanessa Blake, the woman currently wearing the diamond necklace I'd been promised for our anniversary.

"The house," I said calmly, "is in my name."

Ryan laughed. "Sweetheart, you contributed nothing to this marriage. A broke little orphan I picked up from a diner. Be grateful I gave you three years of a decent life. My lawyer will handle the house."

Vanessa giggled. "Babe, don't waste your time. She can barely afford bus fare. Let her keep her pride if that's all she's got."

I looked at them both.

Broke little orphan.

If only they knew.

"You're right, Ryan. I contributed nothing." I picked up my copy of the divorce papers and headed for the door. "You'll regret saying that."

He snorted. "The only regret I have is marrying you."

I stepped outside into the rain.

A black Rolls-Royce idled at the curb. The door opened from inside.

My chief of staff, Margaret, held an umbrella and bowed. "Welcome back, Ms. Sinclair. Your penthouse is ready. Your father called twice. And the board meeting for Sinclair Global has been moved to tomorrow morning per your request."

I slid into the leather seat, peeling off the cheap dollar-store ring Ryan had given me on our wedding day.

Sinclair Global.

The world's third-largest conglomerate.

And I was its sole heir.

Ryan thought he'd married a nobody. He'd told his friends I was a charity case, a sad girl from a diner who couldn't afford real shampoo. Every holiday, he gave me drugstore perfume and expected gratitude.

He never wondered why I never complained. Why I never asked for more.

Because I was studying him. Testing him.

My father's one condition before handing me the company: "Find someone who loves you for you. Not for the name."

Ryan failed spectacularly.

"Margaret, the company Ryan works for—Orion Tech. We own their largest supplier, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am. We also hold thirty-one percent of their outstanding debt."

"Call it in. All of it. Effective tomorrow."

Margaret didn't blink. "Already drafted the paperwork."

I watched the rain streak down the window.

Three years of pretending to be small.

That ended tonight.

My phone buzzed. A text from Ryan.

"Left your ugly coat here. Don't bother coming back for it. Vanessa says it smells like poverty lol."

I stared at the message, then smiled.

Tomorrow, Ryan would learn the woman he just divorced owned the building his company leased.

And the one after that.

And the one after that.