Julian, oh Julian.
That one true love you can't stop pining over.
She's about to hand you one hell of a gift.
I'd just finished lunch.
An unknown number lit up my phone.
I picked up and said nothing.
"Hello? Sis, it's me."
Rachel's voice came through, deliberately soft and syrupy.
In the background, I could hear her gagging.
"Ugh, this morning sickness is killing me."
I tapped the call-recording button.
My voice stayed flat.
"If you've got something to say, say it."
"Sis, don't be so cold."
Rachel put on her sweetest tone.
"It's just, I've moved into the new place, and I found that bag of yours still here."
"I think it's gorgeous, and the baby loves it too."
"Just think of it as a maternity gift to me, okay?"
I raised an eyebrow.
That bag was a limited edition I'd paid fifty grand for.
She actually had the nerve to ask.
I played along, letting out a sigh like a woman down on her luck.
"Rachel, I'm renting now. Money's tight."
"I was actually planning to list that bag on a resale site for some living expenses."
The moment she heard that, she laughed, smug and pleased.
"Oh dear, Sis, how'd you end up in such a rough spot?"
"If I'd known, I'd have told Julian to leave you a few hundred more."
She paused.
"But don't you worry."
"Once my buyout settlement comes through next month."
"That house in Julian's name will be all mine."
"And if I'm in a good mood, maybe I'll toss you a few thousand."
"Let you have a nice holiday too."
I lowered my eyes.
That was exactly the line I wanted.
"Is that so? Congratulations in advance, then."
I reminded her, offhand.
"Oh, right. The property fees and utilities on that house are due this month."
"Two thousand eight hundred total. Make sure you pay on time, or they'll cut off the water and power."
Before she could blow up.
I hung up.
Looking at the file saved successfully on my screen.
I gave a cold little laugh.
One more piece of evidence.
Less than half an hour later.
The landline at the company front desk started ringing like mad.
The receptionist picked up, got startled, and rushed to transfer the call to me.
"Sabina! Are you out of your mind?!"
The line had barely connected before Julian's furious roar came through.
"Who gave you the right to cancel my card?!"
"The fact that it was opened with my ID."
I held the receiver a little further from my ear.
"What? Card won't go through?"
Julian was breathing hard with rage on the other end.
"I'm at the baby store! Buying prenatal supplements for Rachel!"
"The card got locked when I went to pay!"
"There were a dozen people in line watching me!"
"You humiliated me in front of everyone!"
I listened to him falling apart.
And felt nothing but satisfaction.
"You brought the humiliation on yourself."
I told him, ice cold.
"It's not just the supplementary card. I froze the joint account too."
"From today on, don't expect to take a single cent from me."
"Don't you have a sweet little wife about to be worth millions?"
"Have her pick up the tab."
"Sabina! You poisonous witch! You just wait!"
Julian raged uselessly on the other end.
I yanked the landline cord straight out of the wall.
The world went quiet.
During the lunch break.
I took the buyout documents and the recording I'd just made.
And went to a law firm downtown.
Found John Whitney, the attorney who specialized in property disputes.
"Lawyer Whitney, I need to draft an anti-fraud and asset-protection declaration."
I slid the documents across the desk to him.
"I want to make sure that any debt Julian Woodward and Rachel Matthews run up out there—"
"—has nothing to do with me. Not a cent of it."
John Whitney flipped through the pages.
He pushed his glasses up.
"Ms. James, you're very thorough."
"Still, just to be safe, I'd like to check the current ownership status on that marital home."
"Go ahead."
He opened his laptop and logged into the internal system.
He entered the property deed number.
A few seconds later.
His brows pulled tight.
"Ms. James, something's off here."
"What is it?"
He turned the screen toward me and pointed at a line of red text.
"This house. Yesterday afternoon."
"That's three hours after the two of you finalized the divorce."
"Julian put it up as collateral on a high-interest loan."
"For three hundred thousand dollars."
I shot to my feet.
I stared at the mortgage record on the screen.
I almost laughed out loud.
Three hundred thousand!
To buy Rachel her prenatal supplements, to play the big man.
Julian had quietly handed the marital home over to a loan shark operation.
He thought Rachel's four-hundred-seventy-thousand-dollar buyout settlement would hit her account next month.
So he didn't care about the predatory interest on that three hundred thousand at all.
He'd cut off his own last way out with his own two hands.
"Lawyer Whitney."
I drew a deep breath and pressed down the wild joy rising in my chest.
"Print this mortgage record."
"Lock it in the safe with all the other legal documents."
Julian had cut off his own last way out with his own two hands.
I locked every legal document in the safe.
A morning a few days later.
I'd just walked into the company lobby, coffee in hand.
The front desk was mobbed, packed wall to wall.
A security guard was sweating through his shirt, trying to push the crowd back.
"Move along! Don't make a scene here!"
The crowd.
Julian's parents, in their old clothes.
Sitting on the marble floor, throwing a full tantrum.
"There's no justice in this world! Everybody come look at this poisonous woman!"
Julian's mother slapped her own thigh, screaming herself hoarse.
"Stealing my son's money! A shameless tramp!"
"Threw my son out, didn't even leave him a roof over his head!"
Julian's father held up a banner.
It read: Sabina James, Corrupt Executive—Married for Money, Robbed My Son, No Conscience Left!
Rachel cradled her showing belly.
She stood off to the side, eyes rimmed red, wiping at tears.
Crying out her accusations for my watching coworkers to hear.
"Sabina shoved me on purpose, fighting over the money."
"I almost lost the baby yesterday."
"She can't have children of her own, so she wants to kill mine."
"We only wanted the share of the money that belongs to Julian, and she won't even leave us a way to live."
Around them, coworkers who knew nothing started whispering and pointing.
"God, Director James always seems so cold and untouchable, who knew she was this vicious behind the scenes."
"Right? The girl's pregnant and she still pushed her to the brink."
"Bullying old people too. That's going too far."
Just then.
A loud bang.
The elevator doors opened.
The CEO came charging out, face like thunder.
He took in the scene in the lobby and went livid.
"Sabina! What the hell are you pulling here?"
He jabbed a finger at my face, shaking with anger.
"This company is where you come to work, not to drag us through the mud!"
"Right now! This instant! Get down on your knees in this lobby and apologize to them!"
"Make this go away!"
"Then hand in your resignation! Or I call the police and have you taken in!"
I stood there with my coffee.
Looking at him.
Before I could even open my mouth.
Julian came lunging out of the crowd.
His eyes were bloodshot, wild.
He hurled an envelope hard against my chest.
"Sabina! You bitch!"
"Hand over whatever's left in that account! Call it emotional damages!"
"Or I'll see you ruined in this company today!"
The envelope dropped to the floor.
A handful of forged medical bills spilled out of it.
I let the scraps of paper scatter around my feet.
I looked at the two of them, and the old couple wailing on the floor.
"You want me to get down on my knees and apologize?"
I let out a soft laugh.
It wasn't loud, but it carried a chill.
I reached out and opened the briefcase I had with me.
"Julian, do you think you've already won today?"
I took out a small, high-output projector.
Turned.
And plugged it straight into the big screen behind the front desk.
"Sabina! What are you doing! Haven't you embarrassed us enough?"
The CEO roared, trying to stop me.
I swept up the front desk microphone in the same motion.
And pressed the projector's display button.
The screen lit up.
A five-year-old bank statement appeared on it.
I held the mic, my voice booming through the speakers, filling the whole lobby.
"Rachel's buyout money was already blown five years ago!"
"Julian, the house you mortgaged, the money you threw in on top of it—"
"—it all went to a deadbeat buried under millions in online loans!"
