The Bennett family villa gleamed like a jewel against the manicured lawns of the exclusive Westchester estate. Crystal chandeliers cast warm light over marble floors that probably cost more than most people's houses. Classical music drifted through rooms filled with enough antiques to stock a museum.
Grace Bennett's 80th birthday party was in full swing.
I stood in the shadows of the grand foyer, watching the family I'd been part of for three years. Three years of pretending to belong here. Three years of being their pet charity case.
Never again.
"Where's that useless husband of yours?" Grace's voice cut through the elegant chatter like a knife.
The matriarch sat in her throne-like chair in the center of the living room, surrounded by her children and grandchildren like a queen holding court. At eighty, she still commanded absolute respect and fear from everyone in the family.
Everyone except me. Not anymore.
"I asked you a question, Chloe." Grace's steel-gray eyes fixed on my soon-to-be ex-wife. "Where is Noah?"
Chloe smoothed her designer dress nervously. "He's... he couldn't make it tonight, Grandmother."
"Couldn't make it?" Grace's voice rose an octave. "To my birthday celebration?"
The room went silent. Even the hired waiters seemed to freeze in place.
Grace's precious white poodle, Princess, chose that moment to squat on the Persian rug and relieve herself. The smell hit the room immediately.
"Noah!" Grace barked, not taking her eyes off the mess. "Get over here and clean this up!"
Silence.
"Noah Lancaster, get over here this instant!"
More silence.
Grace's face turned an alarming shade of red. "Where is that boy? This is his job!"
His job. Three years of cleaning up after that spoiled rat because Grace decided the family servant should handle the dirty work.
"Grandmother," Chloe's voice trembled. "Noah isn't here."
"What do you mean he isn't here? It's family dinner night!"
Chloe's parents, Richard and Margaret Bennett, exchanged worried glances. They knew Grace's temper better than anyone.
"He's probably working late again," Margaret offered weakly. "You know how his delivery job keeps him busy."
"His delivery job?" Grace's voice dripped with contempt. "That pathetic excuse for employment doesn't give him the right to disrespect this family!"
"Maybe he's finally realized he doesn't belong here," Liam Bennett, Chloe's cousin, said with a smirk. He'd always enjoyed taking shots at me when he thought I couldn't fight back.
His sister Zoey laughed. "About time. I never understood what Chloe saw in him anyway."
"That's enough," Richard warned, but his heart wasn't in it.
Grace slammed her hand on the armrest of her chair. "No, it's not enough! That boy has lived under this family's protection for three years. We've fed him, housed him, and given him opportunities he never would have had otherwise. And this is how he repays us?"
"Grandmother, please—" Chloe started.
"Don't you dare defend him!" Grace's eyes blazed. "The least he could do is show up to my birthday and clean up after Princess. It's not like he contributes anything else to this family."
I'd heard enough. I stepped out of the shadows and into the bright light of the living room.
"You're right, Mrs. Bennett. I don't contribute anything to this family."
Every head in the room turned toward me. Gasps echoed off the marble walls.
"Noah!" Chloe jumped to her feet. "What are you doing here?"
"Paying my respects to the birthday girl." I walked slowly into the center of the room, my footsteps echoing in the sudden silence. "Happy birthday, Grace."
Grace's eyes narrowed to slits. "Don't you dare use my first name, you insolent little—"
"What? What am I, exactly?" I stopped in front of her chair. "Go ahead. Say it. We both know what you really think of me."
"I think you're a disrespectful parasite who's forgotten his place in this family."
"My place." I nodded. "You mean on my knees, cleaning up dog shit?"
Margaret gasped. "Noah! Your language!"
"My language?" I turned to her. "After three years of listening to your family insult me, you're worried about my language?"
"We never insulted you," Richard protested.
"Really? You called me a gold-digging loser at Christmas dinner. Your exact words."
His face went red. "I was making a point about—"
"About how I wasn't good enough for your daughter. Yeah, I got the point."
Grace struggled to her feet, her cane shaking in her grip. "How dare you speak to my son that way!"
"The same way he's spoken to me for three years?"
"You ungrateful little worm!" Grace's voice cracked with rage. "After everything this family has done for you!"
"What exactly have you done for me, Grace? Besides make me feel like garbage every time I walked through that door?"
"We gave you a home! A wife! A place in society!"
"You gave me scraps and expected me to be grateful for them."
Chloe moved between us, tears streaming down her face. "Stop it! Both of you, just stop!"
"No," I said calmly. "I'm done stopping. I'm done pretending. I'm done being your family pet."
"What are you talking about?" Grace demanded.
"I'm talking about divorce."
The word hit the room like a bomb. Several people actually stepped backward.
"Divorce?" Grace's voice was barely a whisper. "You want to divorce my granddaughter?"
"It's already decided."
"No!" Grace slammed her cane against the floor. "No, I won't allow it!"
"You don't have a choice."
"Chloe would never agree to such nonsense. She loves you!"
I looked at my wife. Her face was pale, her eyes darting between me and her grandmother.
"Tell her, Chloe. Tell your grandmother why we're getting divorced."
"Noah, please don't—"
"Tell her about Ethan Pierce."
Chloe's face went white as snow. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Really? You don't remember the Marriott downtown? Room 1247? Yesterday afternoon?"
The room was so quiet I could hear the grandfather clock ticking in the corner.
"Noah," Chloe's voice broke. "Please."
"Tell them how I found you in bed with another man."
"That's not what happened!"
"Then what did happen, Chloe? Explain it to your family."
Grace's face had gone from red to purple. "What is he talking about, child?"
Chloe looked around the room at all the faces staring at her. Her parents. Her cousins. Her grandmother. Everyone waiting for an explanation.
Then she did something I didn't expect.
She started sobbing.
"Oh, Grandmother!" She threw herself at Grace's feet. "I didn't want you to know! I didn't want anyone to know!"
Grace's expression softened immediately. "Know what, sweetheart?"
"It's true!" Chloe wailed. "We are getting divorced! But not because of what he's saying!"
"Then why?"
Chloe looked up at me with pure hatred in her eyes. "Because he's been cheating on me for months!"
The room exploded.
"What?" Richard roared.
"That bastard!" Liam shouted.
"I knew it!" Zoey screamed. "I knew he was no good!"
Grace grabbed Chloe's hands. "Are you certain, child?"
"I've suspected for weeks," Chloe sobbed. "Late nights at work. Strange phone calls. Then yesterday, I hired a private investigator."
"And?"
"He followed Noah to that hotel room. With another woman."
My mouth fell open. The sheer audacity of her lie left me speechless.
"You lying—"
"Don't!" Grace pointed her cane at me like a weapon. "Don't you dare call my granddaughter a liar!"
"She's making this up!"
"The private investigator has photos," Chloe whispered. "I've seen them."
"Show them," I demanded. "Show everyone these photos."
"I can't." Fresh tears poured down her face. "They're too humiliating. My poor innocent Chloe being betrayed by this monster."
Grace's face had gone beyond purple to something approaching black. "You cheated on my granddaughter?"
"I never cheated on anyone!"
"Liar!" Liam stepped forward. "We should have known. Trash like you always shows its true nature eventually."
"Coming from someone who's been stealing from the company books for two years," I shot back.
Liam's face went white. "What did you say?"
"You heard me."
"That's impossible. You're nobody. You don't know anything about our business."
"Don't I?"
Grace slammed her cane again. "Enough! I don't care what anyone else has done. We're talking about you and what you did to my granddaughter!"
"I didn't do anything to her!"
"You broke her heart!" Grace's voice cracked with emotion. "Look at her! Look what you've done to my sweet girl!"
I looked at Chloe, still on her knees, still sobbing. Still lying.
"She's playing you," I said quietly. "All of you."
"No!" Grace struggled to her feet. "She's telling the truth! I can see it in her eyes!"
"You see what she wants you to see."
"I've known this child since the day she was born. She couldn't lie to me if she tried."
"She's been lying to you for months."
"About what?"
"About everything. About me. About our marriage. About why she really wants a divorce."
Grace's eyes blazed with fury. "And why does she want a divorce?"
I looked around the room at all the faces staring at me. Rich, entitled, convinced of their own superiority.
"Because she wants to marry someone with more money."
"More money?" Grace laughed bitterly. "You don't have any money, you pathetic fool!"
"Exactly her point."
Chloe's sobs grew louder. "That's not true! I loved him! I would have stayed with him forever if he hadn't betrayed me!"
"Such a sweet child," Grace murmured, stroking Chloe's hair. "Such a pure heart."
Pure heart. If she only knew.
"Grandmother," Chloe whispered through her tears. "What should I do?"
Grace's expression hardened as she looked at me. "First, we're going to make sure this divorce gives you everything you deserve. This cheating dog won't get a penny."
"I don't want your family's money."
"Good, because you won't get it." Grace's voice dropped to a whisper. "But that's not enough. Not nearly enough."
"What do you mean?"
Grace's eyes glittered with malice. "You've disgraced my family name. You've broken my granddaughter's heart. You've spat in the face of everyone who tried to help you."
"Grace—"
"Mrs. Bennett to you!" She raised her cane like she was going to strike me. "And you're going to pay for what you've done."
"How?"
Grace smiled, and it was the coldest thing I'd ever seen.
"Get that beast to come here now. I have to punish him with the family rules!"