Ethan caught her wrist before she could reach the corner. His grip was iron, hot even through the freezing air. He spun her around and shoved her backward.
Lily stumbled, her back hitting the rough brick wall of the alleyway next to the restaurant. The cold seeped instantly through her thin dress.
"Let go of me!" she screamed, trying to wrench her arm free.
"Stop fighting me!" Ethan pinned her against the wall, his body pressing into hers, trapping her. His breathing was ragged, creating clouds of white steam that mixed with hers. "What is wrong with you? Do you have any idea who was in there? The CEO of Goldman was at table six. You just made me look like a fool."
"You made yourself a fool when you brought your mistress to our favorite restaurant wearing the gown you bought for me," Lily spat back, staring up into his eyes.
"She is not my mistress!" Ethan yelled. "She is my partner! And you are my wife! Act like it!"
He reached into his inner pocket and pulled out a card. It was sleek, black metal. A new Centurion card.
He jammed it into the pocket of her dress.
"Take it," he commanded. "Go back to the manor. Buy whatever you want. Redecorate the whole damn house. Just stop this... this poverty LARPing. It's embarrassing."
Lily looked at him. Really looked at him. He was handsome, rich, powerful. And he was completely empty. He thought a credit card was a bandage for a bullet wound.
She reached into her pocket. She pulled out the card.
"You still don't get it," she whispered.
She held the card up between them. With both hands, she bent it. The metal was tough, but her anger was stronger. She bent it until it warped, until the chip snapped. She dropped the twisted metal into the slush at their feet.
"I want a divorce, Ethan. Not a raise."
Ethan stared at the card in the snow. His face went blank. Then, a dark, ugly sneer curled his lip.
"Fine," he said softly. "You want to be independent? Be independent. But know this, Lily: without me, you are nothing. You have no money. You have no degree. You have no friends who aren't my friends first."
He leaned in, his nose almost touching hers. "You will freeze in this city. You will starve. And when you are sleeping on a park bench, you will crawl back to me. And I will make you beg."
"Watch me," Lily said. "Watch me live better without you."
"Ethan!" Serena's voice drifted from the restaurant entrance. She was standing under the awning, wrapped in a white fur coat, looking like a snow queen. "Ethan, darling, it's freezing! Come back inside."
Ethan looked at Lily one last time. His eyes were a storm of conflicting emotions-rage, possession, and something else... fear?
No. Not fear. Ethan Sterling didn't feel fear.
He stepped back. He brushed off his lapels. "Have a nice life, Ms. Miller."
He turned and walked back to Serena. He wrapped his arm around her waist-tighter than necessary-and led her toward the waiting Rolls Royce.
Lily watched them get in. The car pulled away, the exhaust pipe coughing a cloud of black smoke into her face.
She was alone.
She pulled her phone out. Her fingers were so cold she could barely type.
To Chloe: I'm coming home. I got fired.
She walked to the subway station. The wind cut through her dress like knives. She didn't feel the cold anymore. She felt a burning fever starting to rise.
By the time she got to Chloe's, she was shaking violently. Chloe took one look at her and dragged her to bed, piling blankets on top of her.
Lily drifted into a fever dream. She was standing on a podium, holding a diploma that turned to dust in her hands. Ethan was in the audience, small and insignificant, clapping with hands that made no sound.
When she woke up the next morning, the fever had broken. She felt weak, but her mind was crystal clear.
She sat up. She grabbed Chloe's laptop.
She typed into the search bar: Azure Architects.
It was the rival firm. The only firm in New York that hated Sterling Corp as much as she did.
In his office, Ethan stared at the divorce papers on his desk. They were unsigned.
He picked up his phone. "Spencer."
"Yes, sir?"
"Call every design firm in the city. Tell them if they hire Lily Miller, Sterling Corp pulls all funding and future contracts. Blacklist her."
"Sir? Is that... wise?"
"Do it," Ethan snarled. "Burn her bridges. Every single one of them."
