I woke to sunlight streaming through the penthouse windows and the sound of my phone buzzing incessantly on the nightstand. For one blissful moment, I existed in the space between sleep and consciousness, where last night hadn't happened. Then reality crashed down like a physical weight on my chest.
The gala. Clayton. Saige. His words echoing across the silent ballroom: 'I'll divorce her, Saige. Immediately.'
I reached for my phone, wincing at the notifications flooding the screen. Headlines screamed at me in bold, unforgiving type:
'MONTGOMERY MARRIAGE MELTDOWN: SOCIETY WIFE ATTACKS PREGNANT MISTRESS'
'CHAMPAGNE SHOWDOWN AT PLAZA GALA'
'WYNTER COMES FOR MONTGOMERY'S SPRING FLING'
The last one made bile rise in my throat. I tossed the phone aside and glanced at Clayton's side of the bed. Untouched. He hadn't come home.
Of course not. He was with her.
I pulled myself from bed, wrapping my silk robe around me like armor, and moved to the living room where my Steinway grand piano waited. My fingers found the keys without conscious thought, and Chopin's Nocturne in E-flat major filled the penthouse. The familiar notes anchored me as my mind replayed every humiliating second of last night.
My wedding ring caught the morning light as my fingers moved across the keys. Seven years of marriage, reduced to a public spectacle. Seven years of building a life, shattered like that champagne bottle on marble floors.
"That's always been your tell."
I startled, hitting a discordant note as my mother's voice cut through the music. Victoria Russell stood in the doorway of my apartment, impeccable as always in a tailored navy suit, her silver-streaked hair pulled into a sleek chignon.
"Mother." I didn't ask how she'd gotten in. Victoria had ways of moving through the world that defied normal barriers. "I didn't know you were coming."
"When my daughter becomes front-page news, I don't wait for an invitation." She crossed to the bar cart and poured herself a finger of scotch, despite the early hour. "You play Chopin when you're devastated. Always have, since you were twelve."
I let my hands fall from the keys. "I'm handling it."
"Are you?" She raised a perfectly arched eyebrow. "Because from where I'm standing, Clayton Montgomery just publicly humiliated my daughter, and she's hiding in her penthouse playing piano instead of fighting back."
"What would you have me do? Create more of a scene?" I rose from the bench, suddenly unable to sit still. "I've already given them enough ammunition."
"Ammunition." Victoria swirled her scotch. "An interesting choice of word for a woman who's been disarmed."
She set her glass down and moved to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Central Park. "Did you know the Montgomery empire has been struggling for years? Their European investments tanked after Brexit. Their Asian markets collapsed last quarter."
I frowned. "Clayton never mentioned—"
"Of course he didn't." My mother turned, her eyes sharp as cut diamonds. "Because the only thing keeping Montgomery Industries afloat for the past five years has been Russell money. Your father's investments. My board connections. Our family's backing."
The revelation hit me like a physical blow. "That's not possible. Clayton would have told me."
"Would he?" Victoria's voice was gentle now, almost pitying. "The same man who kept a pregnant mistress while parading you around Manhattan society?"
I sank onto the sofa, trying to process this new betrayal layered atop the others. "Why are you telling me this now?"
"Because you have options, Wynter." My mother crossed to me, taking my hands in hers. Her fingers were cool and strong, like the rest of her. "You don't have to be the victim in this story. The Russells built the Montgomerys, and we can break them just as easily."
"I don't want revenge," I said, but the words felt hollow even to my own ears. "I want my dignity."
"Sometimes, darling, those are the same thing." Victoria squeezed my hands. "Let me help you."
I pulled away, standing to pace the length of the window. "I need to handle this my way, Mother. Privately. With whatever grace I can salvage."
Victoria watched me, her expression unreadable. "Very well. But when you're ready to stop playing defense, call me."
She left as quietly as she'd arrived, leaving me alone with Chopin's ghost notes still hanging in the air and a new, terrible knowledge burning in my chest.
