Chapter 6 - THE THREAT
I followed him.
That surprised both of us.
“Mason!”
He kept walking.
I grabbed his sleeve.
He spun around.
“What?”
“What did you mean about my apartment?”
“Not now.”
“You don’t get to say ‘not now’ anymore.”
Vanessa rushed toward us.
“Mason, stop talking.”
That scared me more than anything.
I looked at her.
“Why?”
She said nothing.
“Mason transferred the apartment to me in the divorce.”
Mason’s expression barely changed.
“The right to occupy it.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No, the settlement said—”
“Read it again.”
I felt cold all over.
I remembered the final divorce meeting.
Thirty pages of legal language.
My attorney had pushed back on several things, but I had been exhausted.
Mason had offered me the apartment.
I thought it was guilt.
A clean break.
I had been grateful.
That realization made me want to throw up.
Nora stepped beside me.
“Claire, do you have the settlement on your phone?”
“In my email.”
“Pull it up.”
Mason laughed.
“This is insane.”
I ignored him.
My hands shook so badly Julian finally took the phone.
“Tell me what to search.”
“Property settlement.”
He found it.
I opened the PDF.
Nora scanned.
Then swore.
“What?”
She pointed.
The apartment wasn’t transferred directly.
It had been placed in a holding company.
A company whose managing interest belonged to Mason’s development group.
“I don’t understand.”
Nora looked at me.
“You have exclusive residency rights for five years.”
“So?”
“So you don’t own it.”
My throat closed.
Mason spoke from behind us.
“I never said she did.”
I turned.
“You told me I did.”
“I said you could keep the apartment.”
“That means ownership to a normal person!”
“Not in a legal agreement.”
Julian took one step toward him.
“You planned this.”
Mason looked bored.
“Stay out of my finances.”
“You invited her tonight to sign something.”
Mason’s eyes flicked toward him.
There.
That tiny reaction.
Julian saw it too.
“What?” I asked.
He looked toward the head table.
“There’s a man sitting next to the groom’s mother. Navy suit. Red tie.”
I followed his gaze.
“Who is he?”
“I don’t know.”
Nora did.
Her face hardened.
“That’s Peter Lang.”
“Who?”
“Mason’s corporate attorney.”
I felt my stomach drop.
“At his wedding?”
Mason snapped, “He’s a family friend.”
Nora laughed.
“No, he isn’t.”
Julian looked at me.
“Your invitation wasn’t about humiliating you.”
I stared at Mason.
He said nothing.
Julian continued.
“He wanted you here emotionally vulnerable, alone, surrounded by his people.”
Nora’s eyes widened.
“And probably drinking.”
I suddenly remembered the handwritten note.
Come alone.
Best for everyone.
I had thought Mason wanted a pathetic ex-wife in the audience.
The truth was worse.
He wanted no one beside me when he put paperwork in front of me.
“What was I supposed to sign?” I whispered.
Mason’s silence answered first.
Then Vanessa stepped between us.
“You want the truth?”
Mason turned sharply.
“Vanessa.”
She looked straight at me.
“Fine.”
“Don’t.”
“Maybe she should know.”
Mason grabbed her arm.
She pulled away.
“The Riverside property is being sold Monday.”
Nora went still.
Vanessa continued.
“There’s one problem.”
She looked at me.
“Your name is still attached to part of it.”
May you like
My heartbeat pounded in my ears.
“And tonight,” she said, “you were supposed to make that problem disappear.”
