me. He has always been there for me.” Chris was breathing hard. “There was proof. Addison had recordings; she played them for me.”
I looked up at his face, screwed up in fury, through the tears in my eyes.
“Linneah has pages and pages of proof.” Chris threw the papers at my feet. “People don’t change. You’re a manipulative gold digger. It’s all right there.”
I was blinking hard, trying not to cry. The truth was, I didn’t have a good excuse for the scrapbook. It looked pretty incriminating.
“Also,” Chris sneered at me, “you can go ahead and try to squeeze money out of me that you never earned and have no right to, but just know, your little company here”—he pointed to my friends and the office—“will be mine if you try to fuck with me. As your husband, I have just as much a right to part of it as you have to part of my wealth.”
That made me furious. “You bully!” I raged at him. “You’re paranoid and crazy. I don’t want a thing from you!”
He held out a hand to silence me. “I don’t want to hear another word from you. From now on, you have to go through my lawyers.” He took two business cards out of his pocket and tossed them at me. “I’ll see you in court.”
After Chris had stalked to the elevator, my friends gathered around me.
“What the hell?” I sobbed, angry and frustrated.
“Addison must have gotten to him.”
“She probably poisoned him,” Amy suggested.
Elsie shoved a mug of tea in my hands.
“What am I going to do?” I wailed. “He’s going to ruin our company. And I didn’t even do anything wrong! I thought he loved me.”
“We always knew he was mentally unstable,” Brea said, clucking her tongue as she massaged my scalp. “From the moment you first laid eyes on him, it was clear something was not right with that boy.”
“I have some lawyers I used to work with in my accounting days,” Elsie assured me. “I’ll call them and start them working on your divorce.”
“Maybe you’ll be able to buy a condo for you, Gran, and the parrot,” Amy said brightly.
“Oh no, Gran!” I moaned. “We’re going to be homeless.”
“You can stay here,” Ivy assured me.
“Gran cannot live here.” I sniffled. Then I blew my nose and composed a text to Gran. “She does naked yoga. It will not work.”
My phone chimed.
Gran: Guy with a dick that big has to be a dick. The apartment has been fixed, so timing is perfect! We will be single ladies on the town! I’ve been flirting with the doorman, and I bet I can convince him to pay for your movers and bill it to Chris.
“After the meeting with Ms. Frankel, we’ll order pizza,” Ivy said soothingly.
I fanned my face. “Another day, another wedding.”
“Let’s be nice and cheery for our new bride!” Ivy said, trying to pump me up. “Just think about all that cheesy goodness.”
“We’ll order Chinese too,” Amy promised, patting my hand.
“And,” Sophie added, “I have an extra chocolate cake that I’ll bring over with the super fudge frosting.”
“I love how you just always randomly have cake,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood.
I liked Ms. Frankel. I’d worked her last two weddings. She loved weddings and wedding planning. It wasn’t fair for her to have to deal with my heartbreak. Because that was what it was—Chris had said he loved me. Now he believed I was trying to screw him over.
“I should have been more careful,” I said dejectedly. “I never should have trusted Addison.”
“We’ll fire her,” Ivy said decisively.
“No!” I exclaimed. “We can’t afford the hit to our reputation, especially not with Chris gunning for us. We’ll just have to be more careful.”
“Girls!” Ms. Frankel sang as the elevator doors opened. She sailed out, flanked by a retinue of corgis.
“My favorite darlings in the entire world!” She air-kissed each of us.
“Grace, you’re looking a little red.”
“Allergies,” I lied.
“Here.” She pulled a small glass vial out of her enormous handbag and spritzed it in my face. “Refreshing, yes?”
I nodded.
She beamed at me. “Keep it! It’s a gift.”
We settled around the table where Ivy had assembled all the wedding planning supplies.
“Oh, girls,” Ms. Frankel trilled, “I’m getting married! Can you believe it?”
“Who is the lucky guy?” Elsie asked.
Ms. Frankel sighed happily and pulled out her phone. “He is a hunk! Six foot five, brown hair, and blue eyes. Handsome as you can imagine!”
“Loaded, I hope,” Amy joked.
“It was touch-and-go there for a while. He