The library at the Stuart Estate on Long Island was a mausoleum of books that no one read. Three lawyers stood behind the desk, watching Dosha like vultures.

Dosha read the final clause.vacate the Penthouse within 48 hours.

She took a breath. She thought of the basement. She thought of the three million dollar necklace around Sienna's neck.

She touched the pen to the paper. She wrote the letter D.

Bang.

The double mahogany doors flew open, hitting the walls with a violence that shook the room.

Casper strode in. He was wearing golf attire-a polo shirt and slacks-but his face was thunderous. He was breathing hard.

He walked straight to the desk, reached over, and snatched the document from under Dosha's hand. The pen skidded across the paper, leaving a jagged line of ink.

He scanned the page. His jaw clenched so hard a muscle feathered in his cheek. He looked at Eleanor.

"You are liquidating my assets, Mother."

Eleanor sipped her tea. "I am cutting your losses, Casper. She is a liability."

"She is my liability."

Casper ripped the document in half. Then in quarters. The sound of tearing paper was loud in the silent room.

Dosha stood up, her chair scraping backward. "Casper! That was my exit!"

"Sit down," he barked at her. He threw the confetti of paper onto the desk. "You don't get to leave until I say you leave."

"That was a two-hundred-million-dollar agreement!" Dosha shouted. The mask was gone. The cool, calculated wife was gone. She was just a woman watching her life raft sink.

Casper grabbed her wrist. He pulled her toward him. "You think you're worth two hundred million? You?"

"She wants to go, Casper," Eleanor said calmly. "You cannot force a merger."

Casper laughed. It was a dark, ugly sound.

"She doesn't want to go. She's throwing a tantrum because I gave the necklace to Sienna."

He looked at Dosha. His eyes were wild. "Tell her. Tell her you want to stay."

Dosha opened her mouth to scream No.

Casper pulled out his phone. He held the screen up to her face. It was a list of debts. Her mother's medical bills. Her father's gambling debts. The lien on her childhood home.

"Without the Stuart name," he whispered, "the creditors will eat you alive before the ink on that check dries."

Dosha froze. He had bought her debt. He owned her debt.

She slumped. The fight went out of her shoulders.

"I... I don't want a divorce," she whispered.

Eleanor sighed. "Foolish."

Casper yanked Dosha toward the door. "We're leaving."

As they reached the exit, Asset came bounding down the hall. The dog looked happy to see them.

Casper shoved the leather leash into Dosha's hand.

"Take your dog," he said. "We're going home."

Dosha stumbled after him, the dog trotting beside her. She looked back at the mansion. It wasn't a home. It was a fortress, and the drawbridge had just been raised.

Casper shoved her into the passenger seat of his Aston Martin. He got in the driver's side and slammed the door. He revved the engine, the sound like a beast waking up.

The speedometer read 105 mph. The trees on the side of the Hamptons highway were a green blur.

Dosha gripped the handle above the door. Her knuckles were white.

Casper stared straight ahead. His grip on the steering wheel was tight enough to snap the leather. He was furious. Not because she tried to leave, but because his mother had tried to take something that belonged to him.

The car's Bluetooth system chimed. Incoming Call: Charlie.

Casper didn't tap the screen to decline fast enough. The call connected.

"Casper!" Charlie's voice boomed through the surround sound speakers. "Dude, Sienna is loving the necklace! She's posting stories from the yacht. She wants to know when you're coming over?"

The air in the car turned solid.

Dosha looked out the window. A bitter smile touched her lips.

"And hey," Charlie continued, oblivious. "Did the invisible wife freak out? Giving Sienna three mil and the wife fifty grand... that is savage, man. You are cold."

Casper hit the End Call button. The silence that followed was louder than the engine.

"So everyone knows," Dosha said softly. "The market value is public knowledge."

Casper slammed on the brakes. The car skidded, tires screeching on the asphalt, pulling onto the gravel shoulder.

He turned to her. His eyes were black pits.

"Shut up. You almost cost me fifty percent of my voting rights back there."

"You tore up my freedom!" Dosha yelled. "That was my money!"

"Is that all you are?" Casper shouted back. "A ledger? A balance sheet?"

"Yes!" Dosha screamed. "Because that's all you made me! What else is there? Do you want me to love you? While you buy diamonds for your mistress?"

Casper flinched. The truth hit him like a physical blow. He unlocked the doors.

"Get out."

Dosha blinked. "What?"

"Get out of the car."

"We are twenty miles from the city. It's about to rain."

"Walk," Casper said. "Think about your ROI while you walk."

Dosha looked at him. She saw the cruelty in his jaw. She realized, finally, that there was no bottom to this.

She grabbed her purse. She opened the door.

Asset, in the back seat, whined and tried to scramble forward to follow her.

Casper hit the central lock button. The back doors clicked shut.

"No," Casper said. "The dog stays."

Dosha stood on the side of the road. "Casper, give me the dog."

He didn't look at her. He floored the gas pedal. The car shot forward, kicking up gravel and dust, leaving her standing alone in the sudden silence.

A drop of rain hit her cheek. Then another.

Dosha took off her heels. She held them in one hand. She stepped onto the rough asphalt with her bare feet.

She started walking.

Dosha pushed open the door to the casting studio in Manhattan.

She looked like a shipwreck. Her hair was plastered to her skull. Her dress was ruined, stained with mud and rain. There was a band-aid on her heel where the asphalt had chewed through her skin.

The room went quiet.

Sloan was there, of course. She was wearing a pristine white dress, her hair blown out to perfection. She took one look at Dosha and laughed.

"Wow," Sloan said. "Method acting a hobo today, Mrs. Stuart?"

Dosha didn't even look at her. Her eyes were hollow. She had walked for three hours before a truck driver had pulled over. She felt feverish.

Lily, the casting assistant, ran over. "Oh my god, Dosha. What happened? I have spare clothes in the back."

"No," Dosha croaked. "I'm ready."

"Dosha Young!" the casting director called out.

Dosha walked into the audition room. Zachary sat behind a table. He looked tired.

"Okay," Zachary said, looking at her appearance with confusion. "The scene is... a woman who has been betrayed. She has lost everything. She is on the edge of a breakdown. Are you ready?"

Dosha didn't answer. She sat in the single metal chair in the center of the room.

She reached into her purse and pulled out a tube of lipstick. Her hand was shaking uncontrollably.

She uncapped it. She started to apply it.

She missed her lips. The red wax dragged across her cheek. She kept going. She applied it to her chin. To her nose.

Tears started to slide down her face, mixing with the rain and the lipstick. She didn't make a sound. She just stared into the camera lens with eyes that had seen the end of the world. It was a look of absolute, crushing desolation.

Zachary stopped writing. The room was so quiet you could hear the hum of the air conditioner.

Dosha dropped the lipstick. It rolled across the floor.

"Scene," she whispered.

She wiped her face with the back of her hand. The madness vanished from her eyes, replaced by a cold, hard clarity.

"Thank you."

She stood up and walked out.

Zachary scrambled up from his chair. He ran into the hallway.

"Dosha! Wait!"

Dosha stopped. Sloan was watching, waiting for the rejection.

"That was..." Zachary struggled for words. "That was terrifying. The role is yours. The pay is scale. And Casper might sue me."

"I'll take it," Dosha said. "Just cut the check."

Sloan's jaw dropped.

Lily burst into tears. "We did it!"

Dosha leaned against the wall. The adrenaline was fading, leaving her dizzy. Her phone vibrated in her pocket.

She pulled it out. A text from Casper.

Where are you? Asset won't eat.

Dosha stared at the words. He didn't ask if she was okay. He didn't ask if she made it home. He asked about the dog.

She typed back: I'm working. Let Sienna feed him.

She turned off her phone.

"Lily," she said, her voice weak. "Take me to the hospital. And then find me a lawyer. I want to find a loophole in that NDA."

"You're going to fight?" Lily asked.

Dosha looked at the rain streaking the windows.

"No," she said. "I'm going to resurrect."