Chapter 1 - The Glass
“Don’t drink that!”
The attendant caught Claire’s wrist inches before the champagne touched her lips.
The glass remained intact, but the liquid splashed across the empty marble beside them.
Claire froze.
In the mirrored wall, she saw Adrian pulling away from Vanessa after a brief kiss.
Her husband had not been watching Vanessa.
He had been watching Claire’s drink.
“Get out!” Adrian ordered.
He stepped between Claire and the attendant without asking why the champagne might be unsafe.
That frightened Claire more than the warning.
Vanessa tightened her grip around a silver clutch. An envelope slipped free and landed on the cocktail table.
The attendant pointed toward it.
Claire picked it up herself.
Inside was an insurance agreement carrying her legal name.
“What is this?”
Adrian’s face changed.
Claire turned another page.
The insured amount appeared in large figures.
Two hundred million dollars.
“You insured me?”
An older lawyer stepped into the chandelier light.
“For two hundred million,” he confirmed.
Claire looked toward Vanessa.
The woman’s smug expression had disappeared.
Adrian reached for the envelope.
Claire moved it away.
“Who receives the money?”
Neither of them answered.
The attendant still held the lowered champagne glass carefully in both hands.
Then the lawyer said:
“The beneficiary is not your husband.”
May you like
Claire looked at Vanessa.
And Vanessa took one frightened step backward.
