Chapter 12: The Mistress's Dream Shatters! She Finally Turns on the Scumbag

"That was all in the past!"

Bryce slapped her hand away.

"Why are you digging up old accounts and making a scene?"

"Old accounts?"

Lia laughed, tears already spilling from her eyes.

"What about the Porsche you promised me? You said you'd transfer it to my name this month."

"The company is having cash-flow problems. Can you be reasonable for once?"

"Reasonable?"

She lunged for his phone.

"Then I'm going to see exactly who you've been getting 'close' to lately."

The moment the screen unlocked, she froze.

At the top of the chat list was a contact she recognized.

The nickname she had once forced him to delete had secretly been added back under a different name.

Inside the conversation, Bryce had sent Eileen a message just the night before:

"Eileen, can we talk privately? Everything was a misunderstanding."

Lia's hand jerked.

She slammed the phone into his chest.

"A misunderstanding? You sleep with me, then send your ex-wife a message asking to get back together?"

"I was testing the waters!"

Bryce was losing his temper too.

"You think I want to keep her around? She's holding evidence against me!"

"So you're lying to both of us?"

"What have I lied to you about? Have I not given you enough?"

"You gave me?"

She threw the Birkin bag onto the floor.

"This bag was bought with her money! This ring was bought with her money! You use her money to make me happy, and you still have the nerve to call it something you gave me?"

The living room was wide open.

Two friends who had come over for coffee that weekend froze in the doorway.

Neither knew whether to come in or back away.

Bryce's face turned bright red, then pale.

"Why are you shouting? You want the whole street to hear us?"

"Now you're embarrassed?"

Lia raised her voice.

"When you walked down the aisle holding my hand, why weren't you embarrassed then?"

"You were the one who threw yourself at me!"

The words came out before Bryce could stop them.

They struck her exactly where it hurt most.

Lia went completely still.

Then she snapped.

With bloodshot eyes, she swept the picture frames, magazines, and liquor bottles off the coffee table.

Glass shattered across the floor.

Her friends awkwardly backed out and quietly closed the door behind them.

"So now you're ashamed of me?"

Lia's eyes burned red.

"Who was the one who begged me to leave with him in the rain?"

"I begged you?"

Bryce looked as if he had just heard the funniest joke in the world.

"You were the one who said Eileen was too old and boring for me. You were the one who threw yourself at me!"

"Fine. Fine!"

Lia was shaking with fury.

"We'll see who goes down first."

The two of them sat on opposite ends of the living room, backs turned to each other.

Neither spoke.

The air between them was as cold as ice.

Meanwhile, across Manhattan, Eileen was still in her studio, listening to a voice message from Kyle.

"I had my assistant release the material in the group. The timing was just right."

"They're already tearing each other apart."

Eileen looked at the message Bryce had sent her in the middle of the night.

She did not even bother replying.

She simply deleted it.

"Let them tear each other apart."

Her voice was flat.

"This is only the beginning."

She set down her coffee.

"Tomorrow, send the lawyer's letter."

The moment she finished speaking, the scene cut back to Bryce's apartment.

Someone knocked on the door.

Bryce cursed under his breath and yanked it open.

Two men in dark suits stood outside.

Each held an official document stamped in red.

"Mr. Carter?"

"Court asset-preservation notice and a lawyer's letter from Ms. Thorne. Please sign for receipt."