Chapter One: The Eviction
The bedroom smelled like his cologne.
Simone sat on the edge of the mattress, hands folded in her lap.
Dererick stood in the doorway, phone already in his hand.
Probably texting Vanessa.
“Pack your bags tonight.”
His voice was ice. He didn’t look at her.
“After the will reading tomorrow, you’re out of here.”
She didn’t cry.
She’d run out of tears weeks ago, when she first discovered the affair.
Now she just felt numb. Hollow. Like someone had carved out her insides and left her walking around anyway.
“Did you hear me?”
Dererick finally looked up. His eyes were cold.
“Tomorrow morning. Nine o’clock. The lawyer reads Dad’s will.”
He walked closer. She could smell expensive cologne.
The same cologne she used to love.
Now it made her sick.
“I get everything. You get nothing.”
He smiled. Cruel.
“I’ve already talked to my attorney. You signed that prenup, remember? You leave this marriage with exactly what you brought into it.”
He paused.
“Nothing.”
Simone remembered the prenup.
She’d been so in love back then. So sure their marriage would last forever.
She’d signed without reading it carefully.
Dererick’s father, Harold, had even pulled her aside and told her to get her own lawyer to review it.
But she’d been too trusting. Too naive.
“I’ve already found you an apartment.”
Dererick’s voice dripped with fake generosity.
“A studio. In the bad part of town. You’ll need to find a job pretty quick, though. I’m not paying you a dime after tomorrow.”
He walked to the window. Looked out at the driveway.
“Vanessa and I are getting married next month.”
Simone’s hands tightened in her lap.
“We’re going to live here. In this house. The house my father left me.”
He turned back to her.
“So yeah. Pack your stuff tonight. And don’t even think about taking anything valuable. I’ve got cameras everywhere now.”
Simone finally spoke.
Her voice was quiet but steady.
“Your father loved you, Dererick. Even when you never visited him. Even when you were too busy to see him during his last months.”
Dererick laughed. Ugly sound.
“My father was senile. He didn’t know what day it was half the time. But he was smart enough to leave everything to his only son.”
He turned to leave.
Paused at the door.
“Oh, and Vanessa’s coming over tonight. We’re celebrating early. You can sleep in the guest room.”
Another pause.
“Actually, you know what? Sleep in the basement. I don’t want you anywhere near us.”
The door slammed behind him.
