SARAH POV
Three days later, Sarah sat at her kitchen table with the divorce agreement spread out in front of her.
She'd read page seven so many times now that she could recite it from memory. The infidelity clause. The words that made her equal to Ryan Wolfe. The fine print that he'd been too arrogant to read.
She wasn't thinking about the message she'd almost sent anymore. She was thinking about what came next.
Her lawyer Marcus had texted her this morning asking for a timeline. Did she want to move forward? Did she want to wait? Did she want to discuss strategy before making any decisions?
Sarah had told him she'd call.
She called him at 9 AM sharp.
"I've been expecting this," Marcus said when he heard her voice. She could hear him settling into his chair. Getting ready for a serious conversation. "Have you decided what you want to do?"
"I want to know exactly what happens if we invoke the clause," Sarah said. She was looking at the photograph of Ryan and Amber again. She'd printed it out and taped it to her kitchen wall so she could look at it every morning and remember why she was doing this.
Marcus went through it step by step. Filing the court documents. Presenting the evidence. Requesting an emergency hearing. Getting a judgment within a few weeks. Fifty percent ownership. Full voting rights. A seat on the board.
"It's all very real," Marcus said. "And it's all very binding. You'd own half his company, Sarah. You'd have the right to make decisions. You'd have the right to be there."
Sarah closed her eyes and pictured it. Walking into Ryan's boardroom. Sitting at his table. Making him see her again.
But not yet.
"I need you to do something for me," Sarah said.
"What?"
"I need you to prepare everything. Get all the evidence organized. Get the legal documents ready. Get the court filings prepared. Have everything ready to submit within twenty-four hours if I decide to move forward."
Marcus was quiet for a moment.
"But don't file anything yet," Sarah continued. "I'm not ready yet. I want to wait a little longer."
"Why?" Marcus asked gently.
Sarah didn't answer right away. She was thinking about who Ryan used to be. Before the success. Before the empire. Before he'd decided that being powerful was more important than being present.
When he was still just a man who needed someone to believe in him.
"Because I want to give him a chance," Sarah said finally. "I want to see if he comes to his senses. I want to see if he realizes what he's done. I want to see if he's capable of apologizing."
"Sarah." Marcus used the tone he always used when he was about to deliver bad news. "Men like Ryan Wolfe don't come to their senses. They just keep moving forward. They just keep winning. And the people they leave behind keep waiting for them to care."
Sarah knew he was right. But she needed to believe something different anyway.
She needed to believe that somewhere inside Ryan, there was still a capacity for regret. There was still some part of him that remembered loving her. There was still something worth saving underneath all the arrogance and ambition.
"Just get everything ready," Sarah said. "And call me when it's done. I'll decide when we move forward."
After she hung up, Sarah did what she'd been doing every morning for the last three days.
She opened Instagram and looked at Ryan's profile.
He'd posted a new photo this morning. Him at a company event. Some product launch. He was wearing an expensive suit and looking directly at the camera like he owned the world.
The caption said: Building the future.
Sarah read the comments. Congratulations. Amazing. You're a genius. Everyone telling him exactly what he wanted to hear. Everyone confirming that he was right. That his way of living was the correct way. That being ruthless and ambitious and willing to destroy anything in your path to success was actually admirable.
No one was telling him that he'd destroyed a marriage. No one was telling him that he'd betrayed someone who loved him. No one was telling him that there were consequences.
She was about to be the person who told him that.
But not yet.
Sarah closed Instagram and opened her notes app instead. She started typing. A list of everything she'd learned about Wolfe Industries in the last three weeks. The company structure. The product pipeline. The market position. The weaknesses Ryan hadn't seen because he was too busy celebrating his freedom.
She'd been studying everything. Getting ready. Preparing for the moment when she would walk into his world and sit at his table as his equal.
It was going to happen. She just didn't know when yet.
That night, Ryan posted another photo. Him and Amber at a restaurant. They were laughing. He had his arm around her. He looked happy in a way that made Sarah's chest hurt.
She typed out another message that she didn't send.
I'm coming back. When you least expect it, I'm going to walk into your boardroom and sit at your table and make you understand exactly what you lost.
Sarah deleted the message without sending it.
Instead, she pulled out her copy of the divorce agreement again and turned to page seven.
The infidelity clause stared back at her. Fifty percent. Equal ownership. The power to make him listen.
She was going to use it. But first, she wanted to see if he would come back. She wanted to see if he would realize what he'd done. She wanted to see if he would ever choose her the way he'd chosen Amber.
And when he didn't, when he proved once and for all that he was never going to come back, that's when she would move forward.
That's when she would invoke the clause.
That's when she would take everything.
Sarah put the papers away and went to bed.
Outside her window, the city lights flickered below.
Somewhere out there, Ryan was sleeping next to Amber and thinking about his future.
He had no idea that his ex-wife was about to become the most important person in his life.
He had no idea that the papers he'd signed without reading them had just given her the power to change everything.
And he definitely had no idea that she was waiting for the exact right moment to use it.