Veronica stared at the offshore data. She rubbed her temples.

"The video is explosive," Veronica said. "But legally, it only proves he slept with her. It won't break the prenup."

She looked up at Keely. "Jones's lawyers will bury us. They will claim illegal surveillance. They might even sue you for invasion of privacy."

Keely did not blink.

"We need a paper trail," Veronica continued. "Legal proof of the asset transfers. And we need a long history of his misconduct."

Veronica paused. "You have to go back. You have to act like the clueless wife."

Keely nodded. "Draft the most aggressive divorce settlement you can. Hide it until I say so."

Her voice was so devoid of emotion that Veronica actually shivered.

"I know a private investigator," Veronica said. "Hall Griffin. He is expensive, and he is a ghost."

Keely pulled out her burner phone. She dialed the number Veronica wrote down.

A gruff voice answered. "Yeah?"

"Veronica Cromwell sent me," Keely said. "I am paying triple your rate upfront."

"What's the job?"

"Haden Jones and Darlene Sutton. I want eyes on them twenty-four hours a day. I want every private transaction they make."

Keely hung up. She logged into an untraceable overseas account and wired the massive retainer fee.

She put her trench coat back on. She slid a pair of oversized black sunglasses over her eyes, hiding the sharp, calculating look in them.

She walked out of the law firm. The freezing Manhattan wind hit her face.

She stepped into the crowded sidewalk, blending in perfectly.

Her personal phone buzzed in her pocket.

She pulled it out. A text from Haden lit up the screen.

Baby, did your trip go well? I miss you so much.

Keely stared at the words. Her stomach did a violent flip. The smell of his sweat and Darlene's perfume seemed to stick in her nose.

A cold, dead smile stretched across her face.

She took a breath, relaxing her facial muscles. She imagined she was still the woman who loved him.

Her thumbs flew across the screen.

Everything went perfectly. I miss you too. I'm almost home.

She hit send. She dropped the phone into her pocket and walked down the subway stairs.

Keely stood outside the heavy doors of the penthouse. She closed her eyes and took one last, deep breath.

She adjusted her face into a soft, tired smile. She pushed the door open and dragged her suitcase inside, making sure the wheels clattered loudly against the floor.

Haden walked out of the living room. He wore a crisp silk loungewear set.

His face lit up with a flawless, gentle smile. He walked over and took the suitcase from her hand.

He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.

"How was the West Coast, baby? You look exhausted," he murmured.

Keely smelled the fresh body wash on his skin. He had showered. Her throat tightened with a sudden urge to gag.

She forced her smile wider. She leaned her head against his shoulder.

"It was a long flight," she lied softly.

Haden wrapped his arm around her waist. His hand twitched, and he subconsciously adjusted the cuff of his silk sleeve-a small, nervous tell she knew meant he was tense or trying to hide something.

"Julian Carlisle is hosting a birthday party at Soho House this weekend," Haden said. "I want you there. I want everyone to see my beautiful wife."

Keely nodded obediently. "I'd love to."

Haden smiled. He patted her hair. "Let me make you some coffee."

He turned and walked toward the open kitchen.

The second his back was turned, the warmth vanished from Keely's eyes. They went dead.

She slipped into the walk-in closet. She stripped off her travel clothes. She pulled on a sharp, tailored black suit.

She grabbed a plain leather briefcase. She walked out the side door, perfectly avoiding the blind spots of the penthouse cameras.

She took the subway to Times Square, then transferred twice to make sure she wasn't followed.

She walked into an inconspicuous, brick industrial building in Brooklyn.

Beside what looked like an abandoned freight elevator, she swiped an encrypted keycard against a completely unremarkable patch of the wall. Instantly, a hidden iris scanner slid out from the brickwork, a red laser sweeping across her eye. Once verified, an entire section of the wall slid silently inward, revealing the true, high-tech elevator. She pressed the button for the top floor.

The doors slid open. The futuristic headquarters of Aeon Tech hummed with energy.

Massive holographic screens floated in the air. Dozens of elite engineers typed furiously at their stations.

Arthur Dalton, her COO, rushed toward her holding a tablet.

"You almost missed the core tech meeting," Arthur complained.

Keely tossed her briefcase to an assistant. She pulled her hair up into a tight knot as she walked.

Her posture changed. The dependent canary was gone. The ruthless CTO of a tech empire took over.

She marched toward the central glass conference room.

The engineers stopped talking. They watched her with absolute respect.

Keely pushed the glass doors open. The room fell dead silent. She walked to the head of the table and planted her hands on the glass.

Keely stared down the eight senior executives in the room. Her eyes were sharp and unforgiving.

Pax Vance, the head of engineering, bounced out of his chair. His curly hair was a mess. He nearly knocked over his black coffee.

He swiped his tablet, projecting a massive web of code onto the center hologram.

"The A4 AI core algorithm finally broke the processing bottleneck!" Pax's voice shook with excitement.

A collective gasp echoed in the room. The executives grinned at each other.

Keely did not smile. She narrowed her eyes at the floating data stream.

She raised her hand and pointed to a tiny string of numbers in the top left corner.

"Line 214 of Module C," Keely said, her voice cutting through the excitement. "There is a logic redundancy. If we hit peak server load, the system will crash."

Pax froze. His smile dropped. He looked down at his keyboard and started typing frantically.

Thirty seconds later, he sucked in a sharp breath. He looked up at Keely, his eyes wide with absolute worship.

He deleted the redundant code. The simulation speed on the hologram instantly jumped by fifteen percent.

The room erupted into applause.

Keely raised a hand. Silence fell immediately.

She tapped a button on the table. A classified business proposal replaced the code on the hologram.

"The merger with Axiom Dynamics is in the final stage," Keely announced. Her voice was calm but carried heavy weight.

"This A4 tech will destroy the current financial risk-management market. It is our key to stepping out of the shadows."

She leaned forward. Her eyes turned lethal.

"I am issuing a level-one gag order. If anyone leaks a single line of code, I will bankrupt you and blacklist you from this industry forever."

She looked at Arthur. "Lock down the Axiom contracts."

She looked at Pax. "Total tech blackout for the next week. No external servers."

"Meeting adjourned."

The executives filed out quickly, fueled by adrenaline and fear.

Keely stood alone in the empty room. She walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.

Across the East River, the Manhattan skyline towered over the water. Her eyes locked onto the massive glass building owned by the Jones family.

She picked up Pax's cold coffee and took a sip.

A dark smirk played on her lips. Once the Axiom deal went public, she would have enough capital to rip Haden's empire apart.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket.

It was a text from Maria, the housekeeper.

Madam, Mr. Jones is asking what you would like for dinner.