Chapter 2

The meeting for the prenuptial agreement was held in my lawyer' s office, a sterile, glass-walled room overlooking Central Park. Nicole Ross, my best friend and the sharpest lawyer in New York, sat beside me. Her face was a mask of professional calm, but I knew her well enough to see the tension in her shoulders.

Across the long mahogany table sat Jocelyn and her mother, a woman who wore her faded prestige like a threadbare coat. Caleb was there too, positioned slightly behind Jocelyn, like a loyal puppy.

Nicole slid the draft across the table. "This is a standard agreement, designed to protect the Chadwick family's pre-existing assets. It's quite generous regarding future earnings."

Jocelyn's mother didn't even touch it. She just waved a dismissive hand.

"We find this draft… insulting," she said, her voice dripping with condescension. "The clause protecting your family assets will have to be removed. A marriage is a partnership, a merger of equals."

Nicole' s eyebrow twitched. "With all due respect, Mrs. Fuller, the assets are not equal."

Jocelyn finally spoke, her voice soft but laced with steel. "And there's the matter of the wedding gifts. I was thinking of something more personal."

She looked directly at me. "Your Andy Warhol painting, the 'Marilyn.' I've always admired it. I think it would look perfect in our new home."

I stared at her. That painting was promised to the Met for their annual charity auction, an event I was chairing. It was set to raise millions for children's hospitals.

"Also," Jocelyn continued, a smug little smile playing on her lips, "we will require a separate penthouse in your building. We value our privacy and expect no unannounced visits or 'interference' from you."

She then turned to Caleb and stroked his hand. "And Caleb has agreed that ours will be a modern marriage. No traditional expectations. He will be fully supportive of my career as a public figure."

Caleb nodded eagerly. "Whatever Jocelyn wants, Mom."

The final blow came from Mrs. Fuller. "And about my son, Jocelyn's brother. He's a brilliant law student. We expect you to use your connections to secure him a clerkship with a Supreme Court justice. It's the least you could do to welcome him into the family."

That was it.

Nicole snapped her briefcase shut with a loud crack that made everyone jump.

"This is not a negotiation," she said, her voice shaking with fury. "This is a goddamn shakedown."

She stood up, her chair scraping harshly against the floor. "Wendy, I'm sorry, but I will not sit here and listen to this. I'm out."

She stormed out of the room, leaving a stunned silence in her wake. The Fullers looked shocked, not by their own greed, but by the fact that someone had dared to call them out on it.