As Joslyn reached the front door, dragging the small suitcase behind her, Jude's assistant, Travis Shaw, was waiting. He had the decency to look uncomfortable.

"Mrs. York... Ms. Cameron," he corrected himself hastily. "The car is ready to take you to the apartment."

Joslyn shook her head, her voice surprisingly steady. "That won't be necessary, Travis. I'll get my own ride."

She pulled out her phone. In full view of Travis, of the hovering house staff, of Jude who had just ended his call, she opened a legal services website. She began filling out an online petition for dissolution of marriage.

Jude's brow furrowed. "What are you doing? I gave you the agreement."

She ignored him, her fingers flying across the screen. When she reached the section on division of assets, she checked the box: "No contest. Waive all claims to marital property."

She hit submit. A confirmation page appeared. She turned the screen toward Jude, the bright light illuminating the cold fury in her eyes.

"Now, we're even," she said, her voice clear and ringing in the cavernous entryway. "Your money, your apartment... I don't want a single penny."

Jude's pupils contracted. He stared at her, a flicker of disbelief in his eyes. He had expected tears, pleading, a scene. Not this cold, calculated severance.

Behind him, Kisha's lips curled into a smug, contemptuous smile. She thought Joslyn was putting on a brave face, a pathetic act of pride.

Joslyn's gaze shifted to Kisha, and her own mouth curved into a chilling smile.

She raised her voice, ensuring every servant within earshot could hear her clearly. "Ms. Franklin, congratulations. But there's something I feel I should remind you of."

Kisha's smile froze.

"Last month," Joslyn continued, her tone conversational, "you called me. You said your son, Leo, had been diagnosed with acute leukemia and needed an emergency bone marrow transplant. You begged me for two hundred thousand dollars, said it was his only hope."

Kisha's face went white as a sheet. "You... you're lying!"

"I felt sorry for you," Joslyn went on, her eyes scanning the perfectly healthy-looking child hiding behind Kisha. "A single mother with a sick child. It must be so difficult. But looking at him now..." She let the sentence hang in the air. "Leo seems to have made a miraculous recovery. The medical technology in New York is truly astounding."

A ripple of murmurs went through the staff. Their eyes, once filled with pity for Kisha, now held suspicion.

Jude's jaw tightened. He looked from Joslyn to a panicked Kisha, a deep line forming between his brows.

Kisha grabbed Jude's arm, her voice shrill with desperation. "Jude, don't listen to her! She's just jealous! She's trying to poison you against me!"

Joslyn didn't even bother to watch the performance. She had planted the seed of doubt. That was enough.

She felt a weight lift from her shoulders. She turned to leave, but something on her wrist caught the light.

A jade bracelet. It had belonged to Jude's late mother, Clementine. She had placed it on Joslyn's wrist on her wedding day, calling it a symbol of the York family matriarch.

Joslyn took a deep breath. Without a moment's hesitation, she slid the cool, heavy bracelet from her arm.

She walked back to Jude, stopping directly in front of him. She took his hand, uncurled his fingers, and placed the bracelet in his palm.

Her skin was ice-cold against his. He flinched as if burned.

"This," she said, her voice soft but heavy, "belongs to you."

She met his stunned gaze. "Tell Clementine I'm sorry. I can't wear it for her anymore."

A sharp, unfamiliar pain lanced through Jude's chest, so intense it made him gasp. He felt an overwhelming urge to grab her, to demand what she meant, to stop her from walking away.

But his body wouldn't move.

A rideshare pulled up to the curb.

Joslyn turned, walked out the door without a backward glance, and got into the car. She disappeared from his life as cleanly as she had signed away their marriage.

Jude stood frozen in the doorway, his hand automatically clutching his chest. It felt hollow. A fragmented image flashed behind his eyes—Joslyn laughing, sunlight catching the green of the bracelet on her wrist. The memory vanished as quickly as it came, leaving a confusing ache. In his other hand, the jade bracelet was a cold, hard, damning weight.