Back home, I kept sorting through everything that would work in my favor for the divorce, and stopped bothering with anything around the house.
So the next morning, the morning we were supposed to leave on the trip, the living room was still a wreck.
Zane was frantically trying to pack.
"Sally, you're not going to pack for us? What kind of wife are you!"
I stood off to the side and said nothing, watching him clown around.
He barked, impatient. "Don't blame me for this. Look how ugly you've let yourself get these last few years. I'm a department manager now. Is it a crime to want a more presentable wife?"
"Do you get it? Walking around next to you drags me down."
I didn't answer him. I just walked over to my son and crouched down.
"Is that what Gabe thinks too?"
"Of course." Zane smirked, pleased with himself.
"Gabe loves Aunt Lorraine. Lorraine promised to buy him a big mansion."
"Right, son?"
Gabe sat on the couch, the limited-edition Transformer clutched in his arms.
Head down. Silent.
And my heart went cold, inch by inch, all the way to the bottom.
"Do you want to go with Daddy, or with Mommy?"
Gabe looked up, glanced at me, then looked quickly over at Zane.
Zane glared at him.
Gabe shrank back.
"I'll go with Daddy."
I nodded.
Stood up.
"Fine. As long as you won't regret it."
I looked at the two of them, father and son, with cold eyes, like I was looking at two dead men.
Zane thought I'd given up. He gave a cold snort, grabbed Gabe, and slammed the door on his way out.
I watched their car pull out of the complex, then turned back into the study, and with a cold smile hit the enter key on the last line.
The firewall on the central control system at tonight's destination might as well have been made of paper in front of me.
Zane, you wanted to look respectable? Today I'll let you get your fill of "respectable" in front of the entire elite crowd.
I slipped a USB drive into my pocket and headed out to the same place.
Atlanta's most exclusive luxury glamping site. The bonfire party was in full swing.
The moment I arrived, I spotted Zane and Lorraine right in the middle of the crowd.
Lorraine wore an expensive designer maternity gown, holding a glass of alcohol-free champagne, laughing so hard she was practically shaking.
Zane had an arm around Gabriel, playing the picture of a successful man, career made, family perfect.
"Mr. Whitney's really young and accomplished, and your wife's so beautiful too. What a winner in life!" A few of the parents crowded around, showering them with compliments.
I pushed through the crowd and walked toward them, one step at a time.
"She is beautiful. After all, she's kept beautiful on my money, so how could she not be?"
My voice wasn't loud, but every word reached every ear in the place.
Every gaze snapped toward me at once.
The moment Zane saw me, the smile cracked off his face.
"Sally?! How did you follow us all the way out here, you crazy woman!"
Lorraine ducked behind Zane at once, cradling her belly, putting on a show of being scared half to death. "Cousin, will you only be satisfied once you've driven my baby and me to our deaths? I've already given you the position of Mrs. Whitney. Isn't that enough for you?"
The parents around them erupted.
"It's that psycho nanny again?"
"How shameless. She actually followed them all the way here!"
"Call the police! Get security to throw her out, now!"
A few of the site's security guards rushed over and shoved me without ceremony.
I stumbled back a couple of steps, pinned in their grip.
I looked at Zane, cold.
He pointed down at my face from above. "Sally, I left you a shred of dignity, and you'd rather throw it back in my face! If you dare make a scene today, tomorrow I'm having you committed to a psychiatric ward!"
His eyes were pure venom. Gabriel hid against his chest, too scared to even lift his head and look at me.
"Have me committed?" I laughed out loud and stopped struggling.
"If people found out about that, who do you think would be committing whom?"
"April 25th last year, the two of you—"
Zane's face went white. His hand shot up.
The slap was already flying at my face.
"Shut your mouth, you bitch!"
Lorraine shrieked too. "Security, drag her out and give her a beating!"
I didn't dodge. I just looked at him, cold. "Zane, you think I came here today to beg you?"
Right at the razor's edge, his palm about to land, a guard's hand reaching for my hair—
"Screech—"
The music across the whole luxury glamping site cut off dead.
At the same moment, a line of black Maybachs let out an ear-splitting screech of brakes.
The giant projection screen in the center of the site suddenly flickered wildly, and then the image changed.
Every trace of Zane and Lorraine's smugness drained away. In an instant, both went pale.
