Chapter 6

Isabella threw her head back with a bitter laugh, her fingers curling into fists. Every fiber of her being screamed to lash out at Margaret.

"Evelyn, how could you endure these people for three whole years?" she hissed through clenched teeth. "We reek of poverty to them? I won't stand for this humiliation like you did!"

Before anyone could react, Isabella shoved Margaret hard. The older woman staggered back, barely catching herself on the ornate hallway table.

"Listen carefully," Isabella spat, her emerald eyes blazing. "Without Evelyn, your pathetic Blackwood name would mean nothing. You're nothing but tasteless new money. Try laying a finger on us, and I'll paint your precious marble floors with your blood!"

Margaret trembled with rage, her bony finger jabbing toward Evelyn. "You—you ungrateful wretch! I'll have you thrown out of Highland Estates!"

For the first time in three years, Evelyn didn't bow her head in submission. Her icy gaze met Margaret's without flinching. "Save your breath. I'm leaving on my own terms."

She turned on her heel, ignoring Margaret's shocked gasp, and ascended the grand staircase. Each step away from the toxic household felt like shedding chains.

How could she have ever believed love was worth this degradation? Margaret had trampled her dignity repeatedly, always favoring society girls over her. No more.

Evelyn took only her essential documents from the bedroom. Below, Isabella and Margaret were still exchanging venomous glares. "Ready?" Isabella asked, her smirk victorious.

"Let's go." Evelyn's voice held a newfound steel.

"Evelyn!" Margaret screeched. "I'll tell Nathan everything! Don't think you can come crawling back—"

Evelyn paused at the threshold, tossing one last scathing look over her shoulder. "Forgot to mention—I divorced Nathan Blackwood weeks ago. Even if you beg on your knees, I'll never set foot in this gilded cage again."

The slam of the front door echoed through the mansion. Margaret stood frozen, then fumbled for her phone. "Nathan! Did you and Evelyn divorce?"

Nathan's voice turned sharp. "How do you know that? Have you seen her?"

"So it's true!" Margaret crowed. "Good riddance! That gold-digging—"

"Where is she?" Nathan interrupted, his usual composure cracking.

"Gone from Highland Estates, obviously. I need to check if she stole anything—"

"She didn't take a cent?" Nathan sounded strangely disappointed.

"At least the wretch knew her place," Margaret sniffed.

Nathan ended the call abruptly, his knuckles white around his phone. Why did his mother's vitriol suddenly sicken him? Had Evelyn left because of this?

He drove to Highland Estates—a place he rarely visited. Evelyn's room stood untouched, even the platinum credit card he'd given her still in its drawer. Only her documents were missing.

An unfamiliar tightness gripped his chest. Three years, and he'd never once bought her jewelry.

Margaret burst in, face purple with rage. "The Dubois sapphire necklace is gone from the safe! Ten million dollars! I'm calling the police!"

Nathan's jaw clenched. "Don't. She wouldn't." Evelyn had never even asked for the safe's combination. Besides, ten million was pocket change—why would she bother?

The realization struck him like a physical blow: in three years of marriage, what had he ever given her?

Smoke curled from his cigarette as he sat in his Lamborghini, but it couldn't soothe his restlessness. Meanwhile, Margaret plotted her revenge. The police wouldn't be necessary—she had far more elegant ways to ruin Evelyn Sinclair.