Chapter 5
The sun wasn’t up when the process server knocked on Vanessa’s hotel room door.
She was staying at the Four Seasons—charging the room to Michael’s credit card, of course. When she opened the door in her silk robe and saw the man with the envelope, she smiled.
“More flowers from my husband?” she purred.
“Vanessa Reed Carter?” the man asked.
“The same.”
“These are for you.” He handed her the thick manila envelope. “You’ve been served.”
The smile died on her face.
She tore the envelope open and read the first page. Then the second. Then she threw the entire stack across the room.
Restraining order.
Emergency custody hearing.
Freeze on all accounts.
Every card she owned was declined before she even finished reading the papers.
She called Michael. He didn’t answer. She called again. Straight to voicemail.
“Michael,” she said, her voice trembling with rage. “You think this is over? You think you can throw me away like yesterday’s garbage? I built you. I made you a better man. I raised your ungrateful brats when you were too busy playing CEO to notice they existed. You will regret this. I swear to God, you will beg me to come back before I’m finished with you.”
She hung up and threw her phone against the wall.
It shattered.
She stood in the middle of the ruined hotel room, breathing hard, her mind racing. She had three hundred dollars in cash. A diamond bracelet. A few pieces of jewelry. That was it. Michael had cut her off completely.
She needed help.
She dialed a number from memory.
It rang four times.
“Hello?” a deep voice answered.
May you like
“Marcus,” she said. “It’s me. I need you.”
Her brother was on a plane by noon.
