Top hacker.

Millions a year.

I inhaled slowly and forced the storm inside me back down.

Then I looked at Nathan’s smug face.

He was so sure I would never leave my son.

So sure I could not survive without him.

In this ten-year marriage, I had lived more like a servant than a wife. No dignity. No self-respect. No life that belonged to me.

Nathan had enjoyed every sacrifice I made, then turned around and entertained himself outside the marriage like it was his birthright.

And now he wanted to use my son to squeeze the last drop of value out of me.

He wanted me broke.

Helpless.

Trapped.

I lifted my chin and met his mocking gaze.

“I choose the money.”

My voice was not loud, but every word landed with crystal clarity.

The air seemed to freeze.

Nathan’s smile stiffened.

Diane’s expression shifted from contempt to stunned disbelief.

“What did you just say?” Nathan asked, as if he genuinely thought he had misheard me.

“I said I’m taking the house and the cash.” I repeated it calmly, without the slightest tremor in my voice.

He stared at me, searching my face for a crack, a joke, a sign I was bluffing.

There was none.

I picked up the pen and signed the agreement in one clean stroke.

Claire Bennett.

The letters looked sharp enough to cut skin.

Nathan stood there in shock for nearly fifteen seconds.

Then he threw his head back and laughed like a man who had just won the cruelest bet of his life.

“Wow. Wow.” He laughed so hard his eyes nearly watered. Then he pointed at me and said to Diane, “Mom, did you hear that? This is her so-called love for Ethan. She’d rather take the money than keep her own son. And this woman thought she deserved to be called a mother?”

Diane snapped out of it and jumped in immediately.

“I told you she was heartless. A white-collar wolf in designer clothes. Ethan, sweetheart, do you see now? Your mother doesn’t want you anymore. She chose the money.”

Ethan’s body shook violently.

His head dropped even lower.

I could see his tiny shoulders trembling.

The pain that tore through me was so sharp it felt physical.

But I could not let myself waver.

Not now.

I folded my copy of the agreement, slipped it into my bag, and stood up.

“I expect the money transferred today,” I said. “As for the house, my attorney will begin the title work tomorrow.”

Then I turned to leave.

“Ethan, sweetheart, your mother…” Diane started again, clearly enjoying herself.

Nathan stopped her with one hand, his face lit with vindictive delight.

“Let her go. From this moment on, she has nothing to do with this family. Nothing to do with Ethan. And frankly, I’d love to see how long a woman with no child, no husband, and no family stays happy clutching a pile of cash.”

I did not look back.

Not at him.

Not at Diane.

Not even at my son.

I walked out of the courthouse with my spine straight and my steps steady.

The sun outside was so bright it hurt my eyes.

My tears burned, but they did not fall.

Ethan…

I’m sorry.

It is not that I do not want you.

It is that I refuse to let you follow a mother who has nothing and spend your childhood surviving on the mercy of people like them.

A mother who cannot protect herself cannot protect her child either.

Nathan Cole.

Diane Cole.

You two just wait.

Everything that belongs to my son, I will take back with my own hands.

Everything you owe us, I will make you repay with interest.

I stepped to the curb and flagged down a taxi.

The second I got into the back seat and the door shut behind me, the tears finally broke loose.

I clamped a hand over my mouth so the driver would not hear me sob.

A second later, my phone buzzed with a bank notification.

Deposit received: $1,400,000.

Not a cent missing.

Nathan moved quickly.

He was eager to draw a hard line between us.

Fine.

That worked for me.

I wiped my face clean, and when I looked up again, the coldness had returned to my eyes.

At that exact moment, the golden words appeared again.

Go to Westbridge Heights Sales Center on the west side of the city. Buy Unit 1801 in Building A. In one month, the district will be rezoned into a top-tier public school zone. Property value will double.

02

Westbridge Heights.

I had never even heard the name before.

Even the taxi driver paused when I gave him the address.

“Ma’am, that place is out in the middle of nowhere,” he said, glancing at me through the rearview mirror. “What are you going there for?”

“To buy a condo.”

He gave me the kind of look drivers save for people they assume are either rich, reckless, or both.

“Those units are hard to move,” he said. “I heard the developer’s almost out of cash. You might end up buying into a dead project.”

I said nothing.

The glowing text was still vivid in my mind, too clear to feel like a random illusion.

Whether it was real or not, I had to gamble.

Right now, I had nothing left except money.

And money, if it doesn’t become power, is just a row of cold numbers.

The sales center was nearly empty.

The model units were silent.

A young agent was half-slumped behind the reception desk, scrolling on her phone in bored surrender.

When she saw me come in, she straightened up and forced out a practiced smile.

“Hi there. Looking for a home?”

“Is Unit 1801 in Building A still available?” I asked.

Her eyes lit up instantly.

“Yes. Yes, it is. That’s actually one of our best layouts. Corner unit, wide-open views, south-facing light, great airflow…”

“How much if I pay in full today?” I cut in.

My bluntness caught her off guard, but only for a second.

Then excitement took over.

“The list price is five hundred and sixty thousand dollars,” she said quickly. “But if you pay in full, we can do a five percent discount, which brings it down to five hundred and thirty-two thousand.”

“Can we sign today?”

“Absolutely. Right now, if you want.”

Half an hour later, my card had gone through, the paperwork was signed, and the condo was mine.

The sales agent looked at me with a mix of awe and envy, the way people look at someone who has just stepped off a cliff and somehow landed on their feet.

When I walked out of the sales center holding the thin stack of papers in my hands, an unfamiliar sense of peace settled into my chest.

This was mine.

My home.

The place where Ethan and I would one day build a future.

I would not let my son spend the rest of his life trapped in the suffocating shadow of the Cole family.

I had just climbed back into a taxi to head downtown when my phone started ringing.