What Daniel never understood was this: before I married him, before I took his name, before I let his family call me lucky, I had been a contracts attorney.

And I had read every line of our prenuptial agreement.

Part 2

For the first year, Daniel acted as if the children and I were dead.

His lawyers sent envelopes with cruel precision: divorce papers, defamation threats, and demands that I stop using the Pierce name. Evelyn gave interviews to society magazines, calling me “a tragic chapter” while presenting herself as a mother protecting her son.

Daniel became the wounded prince of Boston wealth.

He remarried within eighteen months.

Her name was Caroline Vale, a polished blonde charity-board favorite who wore diamonds like armor. At their wedding, a reporter asked Daniel if he wanted children.

He smiled for the cameras.