At three o'clock that afternoon, Cilla sat in a secluded booth at an ultra-exclusive Manhattan cafe.
She had received a text from Meryl demanding a meeting. Cilla only agreed because she wanted to see how desperate the woman was.
Meryl sat across the table, wearing oversized designer sunglasses inside the dimly lit room. Her Hermes Birkin bag sat on the leather seat next to her.
Meryl reached into the bag and pulled out a sleek blue folder. She slid it across the table.
"This is a settlement agreement," Meryl said, her tone dripping with superiority. "Jace has already signed it."
Cilla didn't touch the folder. She just looked at it.
"Open it," Meryl commanded.
Cilla flipped the cover open. She scanned the legal jargon quickly.
The terms were laughable. She was to forfeit all claims to Hudson Tech shares, give up the penthouse, and waive any right to spousal support.
In exchange, she would receive a one-time severance payment of one million dollars.
"One million," Meryl sneered, taking a sip of her sparkling water. "Consider it an act of extreme charity. You take this, and you disappear."
Cilla kept her face completely blank.
"If you try to fight this in court," Meryl threatened, leaning forward, "the Hudson legal team will bury you. You won't even be able to afford the retaining fees. You'll be bankrupt before the first hearing."
Cilla looked down at the signature line. Jace's messy, arrogant scrawl was already there.
He had told her he wouldn't sign the divorce papers, but he had secretly sent his mother to ambush her with this insulting offer.
Cilla picked up her porcelain coffee cup and took a slow sip.
Meryl misinterpreted the silence. She thought Cilla was calculating the money.
"You need to leave him alone," Meryl added, her voice dropping lower. "Carolyn is pregnant. Jace needs to focus on his real family now."
Cilla's heart didn't even skip a beat. It was a classic Meryl tactic, a lie designed for maximum emotional damage. If Carolyn were truly pregnant, the news would have been plastered on every high-society blog for a week, celebrated with sickening extravagance, not weaponized by Meryl in a desperate, quiet attempt to gain leverage. The lie was so obvious, so pathetic, it didn't even register as pain.
Cilla set her coffee cup down. She reached into her blazer pocket and pulled out a heavy Montblanc fountain pen.
She uncapped it with a smooth twist.
Meryl's eyes lit up with triumph. She thought she had won.
Without a single second of hesitation, Cilla pressed the gold nib to the paper and signed her name on the dotted line.
She flipped to the next page and signed again.
When she was done, she casually tossed the folder back across the table. It slid and hit Meryl's water glass with a clink.
Meryl stared at the signed documents. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.
"Did you... did you even read the terms?" Meryl stuttered, completely thrown off balance by how easy that was.
Cilla stood up. She looked down at Meryl, her eyes cold and empty.
"Keep your pathetic million dollars," Cilla said, her voice cutting through the quiet cafe. "Buy yourself a nice coffin with it."
Meryl gasped, her hand flying to her chest. "Excuse me?"
"I don't want a single cent from your disgusting family," Cilla stated clearly. "I just want to be legally scraped clean of the Hudson name."
Meryl was completely speechless. The intimidation tactic had failed spectacularly.
Cilla picked up her bag and turned to leave.
She paused at the edge of the booth. "Don't ever contact me again."
Cilla walked out of the cafe and pushed the heavy glass door open.
The cool New York air hit her face.
She had just signed away millions in marital assets, but as she stood on the sidewalk, a massive weight lifted off her chest.
She was free.
She pulled out her phone and dialed Lena's number.
"Hey," Cilla said, a genuine smile touching her lips for the first time in months. "I'm officially single. Let's get dinner."
