The room seemed to go cold in an instant. Ethan Brooks blinked, his eyes darting between me and the woman beside him, who was now visibly shaken by my presence. “Hold on,” he said, his voice rising. “CEO of what?”

His new wife — Lauren Brooks — turned slowly toward him, her confidence draining away. “The Hawthorne Group. The tech firm I just accepted a VP role with. Natalie Hawthorne is… the majority owner.”

Ethan let out a short, disbelieving laugh, as if the universe were playing a cruel joke.

I didn’t respond. I didn’t have to.

Because in that moment, Lauren understood something Ethan still didn’t: the balance of power had shifted so completely that he was already sinking, even if he couldn’t feel it yet.

I watched the realization spread across his face.

“You work for her?” he asked Lauren.
She nodded stiffly. “Yes. And from everything I’ve been told… she owns the company.”

His mouth opened, closed, then opened again. “You have money? Since when?”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Since the day before you walked out. But don’t worry — your timing was impeccable.”

Lauren looked horrified. “You told me she was unemployed. That she was useless. That she was trying to trap you with the baby.”

I tilted my head slightly. “And you believed that?”

Her face flushed deep red. She looked away, unable to meet my eyes.

Ethan stepped closer. “Look, we can talk about this. Maybe we misunderstood each other. I was under a lot of pressure, okay? I didn’t mean what I said.”

That was when Sophie Lane walked in, holding Emma in her arms. “That you couldn’t afford to support a ‘jobless woman’?” she said calmly. “Because you were very clear about that, Ethan.”