“Do you, now?” A perfectly arched eyebrow sprang up, creasing her forehead. Her eyes drilled into mine, dark and dangerous. If I hadn’t been seated, I would’ve taken a careful step back, as if I’d seen a coiled snake ready to pounce.
Without a word, I pushed the white folder toward her.
Her fingers trembled slightly when she opened the file. She wasn’t expecting what she saw. Her thin body reeled at the sight of the first image. She turned pale and clenched her jaw, but didn’t say a word. In the perfect silence of the patio, palm tree fronds rustling in the gentle breeze offered the only sound.
She took her time, studying each picture carefully and holding her own quite well. She didn’t glare at me, didn’t tear up, didn’t spew invectives ... just looked at those photos one at a time until the last—the one showing Winston slipping the ring on my finger.
“Where was this taken?” she asked, tapping the photo with the tip of a perfectly manicured finger.
“At Lago. Today.”
Her gaze shifted from the picture to my ring finger, then to me.
“What do you want, Ms. Taylor?”
I took a small thumb drive out of my purse. “There’s a standard nondisclosure agreement on this drive, and a cryptocurrency account.” I looked her straight in the eye, feeling like I couldn’t breathe anymore. “For the right amount of money, I will walk away.”
“Really,” she said, and it wasn’t a question. She’d turned ashen.
“Yes.” I paused for a beat, but she didn’t ask anything else. She sat there, seemingly stunned, looking at me without unclenching her jaw. “It’s up to you what you do with this. You can have a very lucrative divorce using these pictures, and bypass the prenup,” I added, taking a shot in the dark. Winston had been married before. Chances were, he’d had one drawn up before marrying Claire.
By the way her pupils dilated, I’d hit a bull’s-eye. “Or you can ransom your husband from me and live happily ever after. Either way, I disappear.”
She closed the file and clasped her hands tightly, her knuckles turning white. “And how did you know he wasn’t going to be here now?”
“He’s waiting for me at his suite at the Cosmopolitan,” I replied, unable to stop myself from twisting the knife.
“Of course he is.” Biting her lower lip, she glanced at the closed file, then back at me. Her pupils were dilated, menacing. “How about me? How did you know I was going to be home?”
I didn’t find it necessary to bring up the subject of my former private investigator, Brad Pendergraft. “I have my sources. I know what I’m doing, Mrs. Donovan.”
She nodded and swallowed hard, looking at the fizzy drink that she’d left on the lounge-side table.
“I’ll get it for you.” I stood and walked over there, and grabbed the glass.
“Could you do me a favor?” she asked, her voice unexpectedly strong. “Bring the eye drops, too. These contact lenses are so hard on my eyes.”
I brought both objects over and placed them on the table.
“Would you mind?” she asked, tilting her head back and keeping her eyelids open with her fingers. “I never get it right.”
Frowning a little at the unusual request, I took the cap off the bottle ofVisineand put a couple of drops in each of her eyes. “Thank you,” she said, blinking rapidly a few times. Then she took a sip of lemonade and breathed deeply.
The sliding door opened. It was the maid bringing a tray of refreshments. Claire waved her off with an impetuous gesture. The door closed. Claire looked straight at me and clasped her hands together. “How much?”
“I was tempted to go for one percent of the value you’ll keep,” I said coldly, “but let’s make it an even million.” I held my breath; I’d never asked for so much money before.
“In crypto?”
“Yes. And the signed NDA. Otherwise, we have no deal.”
She took another sip and looked at me for a long, loaded moment. I didn’t flinch, although the strength of my resolve was fading with every moment. I felt as if I were withering under her stare.
Finally, her eyes shifted toward my ring. “Why not everything? With that”—she pointed at my ring—“you could have it all. Whatever’s left after the divorce settlement. Though, not this house. I like this house and I’m keeping it.”
I nodded politely. In her mind, she was already dividing assets. Counting her newly found fortune. “I love my freedom more. One million is enough for me.”
“I don’t think you’re worth that much. I’ll give you half.”
