“Watch your tone.”

Behind him, Evelyn appeared.

She had heard everything.

“You married into this family,” she said coldly. “That means you contribute.”

I untied the apron.

Folded it carefully.

Then placed it on the counter.

My phone rang.

I answered on speaker.

My general counsel’s voice filled the kitchen.

“Claire, the Mercer extension has been frozen. Do you want us to issue formal default notice tonight?”

Daniel went completely white.

Evelyn’s wineglass slipped from her hand.

I looked at both of them.

“Not yet.”

I smiled.

“Dinner first.”

PART 3

Dinner was painfully quiet.

Evelyn’s friends sat around the walnut table pretending not to stare.

Daniel looked at me as though I had become a completely different person in the space of one phone call.

His mother recovered first.

“You work for Hawthorne?”

I sat down calmly.

“No.”

She frowned.

“I run it.”

Daniel laughed nervously.

“That’s impossible.”

I unlocked my phone, opened Hawthorne Capital’s executive profile page, and placed it on the table.

My photograph appeared beneath the title:

Managing Partner — Claire Bennett.

Evelyn’s face went blank.

I looked at Daniel.

“You dated me for eighteen months and never once bothered asking what I actually did.”

“You said you worked in events.”

“I told you I organized private events for investors. You filled in the rest yourself because it made you feel more comfortable.”

His chair shifted sharply.

“So you lied.”