Everything clicked into place.
‘Felicia, I told you. As long as I'm in the picture, you can't win.’
Maxwell lit a cigarette and leaned against the car door, one brow arched as he looked at me.
My fingernails dug deep into my palms.
I stared at him, shaking from head to toe, my voice cracking when I finally spoke.
‘Why?! Maxwell?! How could you?!’
‘You know how long I worked for that award!’
Faced with my fury,
Maxwell blew a slow smoke ring, the corner of his mouth curling upward.
‘There's really no need for all this, Felicia.’
He stepped forward and seized my hand.
‘Compared to being Mrs. Delgado, that worthless little prize means nothing.’
‘I love you, Felicia. I don't want you throwing away my love and patience over something this trivial. Come home with me……’
‘Get off me!’
I ripped my hand free from Maxwell's grip,
swung my arm up, and slapped him square across the face.
‘Maxwell, I already told you. I will never be the wife of the man who killed my mother!’
‘I won't let you get away with this!’
Maxwell clutched his reddening cheek, slammed the car door shut,
and right there in front of the committee building, he laid on the horn at me,
his voice dripping with that same contempt again.
‘Mrs. Delgado, I'm happy to play this game with you. We'll play until you've had your fill. Until you learn to back down and admit you've lost!’
I watched his car tear away in a cloud of dust.
I clenched my fist and drove it into the rough stone wall behind me.
Gravel bit into torn flesh.
Blood mixed with grit seeped through the gaps between my fingers and pooled in my palm,
staining the business card I'd been clutching.
I slowly uncurled my ruined hand and dialed the number on the card.
Maxwell, the one who loses in the end won't be me.
‘Felicia, are you sure about this? If it really goes that far, you and Maxwell will truly be……’
‘I'm sure.’
Cindy Donaldson went silent on the other end for two seconds, then her voice came back low and steady.
‘Alright. As long as you're certain, I'm with you to the end.’
Tears had been swimming in my eyes for a long time.
After those words from Cindy, I couldn't hold them back anymore and let them fall.
It was the first time I'd cried since my mother died.
Cindy must have sensed it through the phone,
because her voice softened.
‘Felicia, you know better than I do what Maxwell is capable of. Brace yourself.’
I looked back at the committee building and managed a bitter smile.
‘I know. I'm ready.’
‘Cindy, let's begin.’
‘Done.’
After I hung up, I watched the trees flicker past the car window, and a cold laugh rose from somewhere deep inside me.
Eight years. I'd been by his side through everything, from green and naive to polished and powerful.
I came from a business family. I understood the dirty tricks of the trade better than Maxwell ever had.
In the beginning, I was the one who taught him, piece by piece.
He learned. He got good at it. He mastered the chessboard.
And now every last bit of it was being used against me.
But it didn't matter. Cindy alone was worth every legal team in Capital City combined.
A shrill ringtone cut through my thoughts.
I hit the answer button.
Maxwell's voice exploded from the other end.
‘Felicia, are you serious?!’
When I didn't respond, his tone eased just a fraction.
‘Felicia, there's really no need for this. You know my company's been dealing with some issues lately.’
‘You're having Cindy sue me now? My entire legal department will have to drop everything for this. You're going to hurt the family business doing this.’
