At 3:00 AM my husband’s mistress sent me a photo to destroy me, but I forwarded it to the whole Board of Directors of his company

Then another.

Profile icons began lighting up one by one in the darkness.

I smiled.

Vanessa thought she had destroyed the wife.

She had actually destroyed the husband.

I powered off my phone, removed the SIM card, walked into the marble bathroom, and flushed it down the toilet.

Watching the old version of myself disappear felt strangely peaceful.

The woman who stayed quiet.

The woman who protected her husband’s image.

Gone.

I walked to the hidden safe inside my closet. Behind jewelry I never cared about and handbags I never loved sat a black carry-on suitcase I had packed three months earlier.

Passports.

Contracts.

Bank records.

Two encrypted phones.

I changed into jeans, a black sweater, and sneakers.

No diamonds.

Nothing that belonged to Mrs. Whitmore.

Downstairs, Ethan’s collection of exotic cars gleamed beneath the garage lights. I ignored the Ferrari and the Aston Martin.

Instead, I chose a black Range Rover registered under one of Ethan’s shell companies.