They were last year's castoffs—pieces I'd gotten bored with and had my assistant donate.
Sapphire saw me walk straight inside and rushed to block my path. "Are you here to deliver the property deed?"
"Who let you in? Let me tell you something—Mr. Finley bought this house for me. If you don't get out, I'm calling security to drag you out right now!"
I let out a cold laugh, pulled the marriage certificate from my bag, and tossed it onto the table.
"See for yourself. Find out who I am."
Sapphire glanced down. For a second, she froze. Then a mocking sneer twisted her face, and she swung her hand hard across my cheek.
"You have the nerve to impersonate Mrs. Finley? You must be out of your mind! Take a good look in the mirror—a man like Morton would never look twice at trash like you!"
She reached smugly into her own bag and produced a red booklet of her own.
"Take a closer look. This is the real one. Morton and I registered our marriage a long time ago. I've seen plenty of women like you, showing up to run a scam. Stop embarrassing yourself!"
I lowered my gaze to the gold-embossed marriage certificate, and the coldness in my eyes sank deeper with every passing second.
Good. Very good.
Morton Finley. What a brilliant game you've been playing.
On one hand, you played the dutiful live-in husband for the Mason family, using my resources, living in my house. On the other, you turned around and married another woman behind my back, making a fool of me the entire time.
I didn't reach up to touch my burning cheek. I didn't argue with her. I simply reached into my bag, pulled out the property deed I'd just obtained, and slammed it down on the table.
"Sapphire Parsons. Open your eyes and read carefully. This house—see whose name is on it."
Sapphire picked up what I'd thrown down, looked at it for a moment, and burst out laughing. "All that posturing, and you pull out some worthless household registry to try and fool me? You've lost your mind!"
I looked at the household registry sitting on the table and frowned. Then it hit me—I'd told my driver to take the property deed back to the family estate before I left.
She waved her hand dismissively and called out, "Security! Drag this lunatic out of here!"
The words had barely left her mouth before two bodyguards in black suits rushed in, reaching for me.
My heart sank.
The day Morton took over the company, he'd come to me practically in tears about how dangerous it was being CEO—too many enemies, he needed personal security. I hadn't hesitated. I'd signed off on a massive budget for him without a second thought.
So these bodyguards weren't his safety net. They were Sapphire's guard dogs.
I stepped back half a pace and swept my gaze over the two men. "I'm Teresa Mason, CEO of the Mason Group. Morton Finley is nothing more than a man who married into my family. You lay a hand on me, and you'd better be ready for what comes next."
Sapphire doubled over laughing, clutching her stomach like she'd just heard the joke of the century. "CEO of the Mason Group? Why don't you take a good look at yourself! Morton already drew up his will—the whole company goes to the baby in my belly! If he were really just some live-in husband, where would he get a company to leave to my child?"
Every muscle in my body locked. The blood in my veins turned to ice.
"...You're pregnant?"
At that moment, Morton shoved the door open and barged in, flustered and panicked.
"Sapphire, what's going on? What's all the commotion? Why are the bodyguards in here?"
The second he saw me, the color drained from his face. His feet stopped dead.
I didn't cry. I didn't scream. I didn't lunge at him.
I just stood there, my gaze scraping across his face inch by inch, my voice cold enough to freeze the air between us.
"Morton Finley. The will. The baby. The bodyguards. This house."
"Would you like to explain? Personally?"
Morton's pupils contracted sharply. The panic lasted only a heartbeat before something hardened behind his eyes, like he'd made a decision. His expression turned stone-cold, and the way he looked at me was so foreign it cut to the bone.
He stepped forward, shielding Sapphire behind him, and barked at me with a voice stripped of every trace of the man I'd known. "Who the hell is this tramp, barging in here and causing a scene? Security! Get her out of here. If she upsets my wife and my child, it'll be your heads!"
