Chapter 1
When Sierra Whitlow became a judge, her very first case was actually a divorce between her husband and his childhood sweetheart.
Staring at the case file, she kept double-checking the details. “Mira, wait, is there some mistake here? You’re saying the defendant is Magnus Everhart?”
Her assistant clerk grinned. “Judge Whitlow, he is Magnus Everhart-CEO of Everhart Industries. I might screw up other paperwork. but trust me, it’s definitely not this one”
Mira whipped out her phone, pulled up Magnus Everhart’s Wikipedia page, and show the cruel trutu toward Sierra’s face.
The photo showed a face identical to her husband’s. Sierra’s blood turned to ice.
Claire Benton from the clerk’s office piled on: “Oh yeah, Judge Whitlow, since you’re the newbie-Magnus and his precious wife Odessa Verrier? They’ve been this messy drama for like seven or eight years. First time it’s hit the courtroom though. The press gallery is totally packed!”
Sierra’s legs nearly gave out as the papers slipped from her numb fingers onto the desk.
“Wait,” Mira said, eyeing her curiously, “you know Magnus Everhart?”
Know him? She’d been married to him for six years. They even had a son together.
The man who’d been sleeping next to her for six years was actually the CEO of a major corporation-and married to someone else?
It was fucking insane!
Sierra forced herself to shake her head. “I’m new to New York. Don’t really know anyone yet.”
After they got married, she’d given up her career as a top-tier lawyer in Boston to take care of Eli, spending three years as a full-time mom. This year, sick of the always-missing-each-other kind of life they had because of his constant travel, she’d busted her ass to pass the New York bar exam and land this judgeship. Tonight, she’d planned to surprise him with the news.
Instead, fate had delivered the crushing blow first.
Seated at the judge’s bench, Sierra finally got a clear look at Magnus’s childhood sweetheart, Odessa Verrier.
Odessa elegantly removed her designer sunglasses, draped head-to-toe in luxury brands, and settled gracefully into her seat. Her porcelain fingers drummed lightly against the table.
Sierra glanced down at herself-worn down from years of single-handedly raising Eli, she hadn’t bought new clothes in three years to save money. The calluses on her hands had even snagged her only silk nightgown.
When court began, Magnus was a no-show. Only his attorney, Victor Langley, appeared.
Plaintiff Odessa Verrier’s face darkened as she slammed her sunglasses on the table. “Where the hell is Magnus? I want this divorce!”
Victor looked apologetic. “Mr. Everhart is in an international conference call and couldn’t get away. He said he’s had that ten-million-dollar blue diamond from the Abyssos auction delivered to the penthouse. He promises he’ll be home tonight.”
Odessa scoffed and shouted toward the bench: “I’m getting this divorce today! I’m done with this!”
Sierra struggled to maintain her professional composure. “Plaintiff, please state your grounds for divorce so the court can consider your petition.”
Odessa crossed her arms and launched into her complaints: “He gives me the silent treatment! He’s only with me half the year, and
sometimes I wake up and he’s just gone!”
“And he stands me up! I didn’t use his black card for an entire month and he didn’t even notice!”
“Oh, and last month in LA! I told him my stomach hurt and he didn’t fly out overnight to make me soup!”
“When I call him, he’s so focused on his stupid meetings that he completely ignores me asking for that blue diamond necklace. Too little, too late!”
Odessa’s tirade-which sounded less like genuine complaints and more like bragging-left the entire courtroom speechless.
Especially Sierra, who couldn’t fathom that her typically cold, workaholic husband had such a tender side.
She’d thought Magnus was just some corporate drone working in New York, and she’d felt sorry for how hard he worked to make ends meet. She’d even been using her pre-marriage savings for Eli’s formula.
She’d been scrimping and saving like an idiot, dreaming about their future together.
Magnus must think she was absolutely pathetic.
Her eyes stung as a tear dropped onto the case file, making “Magnus Everhart” blur across the page.
Victor insisted on presenting evidence against the divorce, and the proceedings stalled.
Then Magnus called. Victor looked relieved as he hit speakerphone.
That familiar voice filled the courtroom.
“Hey baby, I screwed up, okay? I bought you another island-how about we spend a month there together?”
“I don’t want a divorce… It took me forever to marry you. You divorcing me would be like killing me!”
Finally, Odessa burst into laughter.
“You idiot, I’m on speakerphone! Everyone heard that, so you better not take it back!”
Hearing her husband speak so intimately to another woman felt like her heart was dissolving in acid.
The hearing wrapped up quickly, but Sierra still had to process the paperwork for her husband and his sweetheart.
Ding. Her phone buzzed with a breaking news alert.
“Everhart Industries Heir Spotted in Sweet Embrace with Wife at Golden Bay Club-Divorce Rumors Debunked!”
The photo showed them locked in a tender embrace.
Her blood turned to ice. She grabbed a cab to Golden Bay Club.
During the ride, memories with Magnus kept flashing through her mind.
They’d met at a corporate mixer where, by chance, she’d helped him resolve a complex legal issue.
She’d assumed they’d never cross paths again, but Magnus began pursuing her relentlessly. She fell hard and fast.
Having lost her father young, Sierra desperately craved a complete, happy family. When Magnus proposed, she said yes immediately.
He’d knelt before her mother and sworn to cherish Sierra for the rest of his life.
The first year of marriage, Sierra felt like she was living in a fairy tale.
15
Chapter 1
Magnus would peel her shrimp at dinner and remember every food she disliked.
On Valentine’s Day, he’d created elaborate flower displays and slipped custom-designed rings onto her finger.
On her birthday, he’d turned over all his assets to her-she’d been moved to tears by that hundred thousand dollars.
What really won Sierra over was when Magnus volunteered for a vasectomy.
He’d kissed her lips and whispered, “Sierra, I love you, and I respect you. When you’re ready for kids, we’ll have them together.”
But in their second year of marriage, Sierra got pregnant anyway. Around the same time, Magnus transferred to New York, and that’s when everything went to hell.
Magnus’s laughter drifted through the partially open door of a private room.
“Dude, you’ve got it made! Wife and kid in Boston, girlfriend in New York. Us single guys are so jealous!”
The man at the head of the table chuckled coldly. “If you’re jealous, I’ll let you play daddy!”
“Hell no! Your grandfather would skin me alive if his great-grandson started calling me dad. But seriously, when are you gonna tell Odessa about this?”
Magnus took a long drag from his cigarette. “After our vacation next month. Odessa and I go way back-she sacrificed her ability to have children to save my life years ago. I owe her a kid. She’ll love Eli.”
“Aren’t you worried about the Boston wife causing trouble? I heard she’s a lawyer. Can you handle her?”
Through the smoke, his expression was unreadable, but his heartless laughter said everything.
“So what if she’s a lawyer? Her mother’s still alive. Apply a little pressure and Sierra will hand over the kid like a good girl.”
His friend nodded. “True. If you hadn’t married her just to make Odessa jealous, she never would’ve gotten so lucky. She should be grateful!”
Sierra’s blood turned to ice. It felt like her chest had been ripped open, hemorrhaging.
His kindness had all been an elaborate lie. She and Eli were just pawns in their twisted game.
She didn’t remember walking out of Golden Bay Club. The moment she hit the street, her phone rang-her law school classmate calling from California.
“Sierra, how’s the judge thing working out? Bet it’s thankless work for terrible pay. Listen, want to come to California? Our firm’s about to go public and I can offer you a partnership.”
This time, she didn’t hesitate.
“Okay. I’ll see you in California in ten days.”
15.30
