Chapter 1 - The Envelope at the Courthouse
“Aiden needed someone who matched his ambition.”
Madeline Fisher tightened both hands around Aiden’s arm and smiled down at Alice from the courthouse steps.
Alice stood beside the open door of a black sedan, eight months pregnant, one hand beneath her stomach and the other gripping her beige handbag.
For one brutal second, the words struck exactly where Madeline intended.
Alice’s fingers tightened.
Her eyes dropped toward the wedding ring she still wore.
Then the baby moved beneath her palm.
Alice drew one slow breath and raised her chin.
“Enjoy the feeling while it lasts.”
Madeline’s smile flickered.
Aiden stepped away from her and checked his expensive watch.
“Sign the papers, Alice. Then this is over.”
He spoke as though twelve years of marriage were an appointment running late.
Alice closed the sedan door with one firm push.
Near the courthouse entrance, attorney Daniel Mercer waited with a black legal folder.
He gave her one small nod.
Alice removed a sealed white envelope from her handbag and walked toward him.
The moment Aiden saw it, he stopped.
Madeline hurried forward.
“What did you give him?”
Alice slid the envelope into Daniel’s folder and snapped it shut before Madeline could touch it.
Then she removed her wedding ring.
She dropped it into Aiden’s open palm and closed his fingers around it.
“The part you never thought I knew.”
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For the first time that morning, Aiden’s confidence disappeared.
👉 Because the signature inside Alice’s envelope belonged to Aiden—and he had no idea she still possessed it.
