He threw money on the bed after our one-night stand.
I threw it back in his face at his own inauguration.
By sundown, we were engaged. By the week's end — married.
Franklin Flemington needed a wife to secure his empire. I needed a miracle to save my family. For two years, we played our parts flawlessly — the golden couple the whole city envied.
Behind closed doors, I was invisible to him.
When the two years were up, I handed him divorce papers without blinking.
He stared at me like I'd lost my mind. "I've given you everything a husband should. What more do you want from me, Octavia?"
I smiled, signed my name, and walked out.
I thought that was the end. I thought I'd finally won.
I forgot one thing — Franklin Flemington has never lost anything in his life. And he has no intention of starting with me.
Game on.

I couldn't wrap my head around the depth of the deception. Why was it that every time I let my guard down, I ended up bleeding?


My phone had been a battlefield all night.


 Clinton's name flashed on the screen incessantly; apologies flooded my inbox like a rising tide I was drowning in. I didn't answer. I couldn't. The more I thought about his words, the more they curdled in my stomach.


The next morning, I went for a jog, hoping the physical burn in my lungs would distract me from the emotional ache in my chest. It didn't work.


 By the time I got to the office, I felt like a ghost haunting my own life. All I wanted was to crawl under my covers and let the darkness take me. I had truly thought Clinton was the antithesis of Franklin.


 He said he loved me, but he had used me as a weapon against the very people I was trying to leave behind.


Chapter 59 - ~ 59