Chapter 1 - The Trap in the BedroomThe phone in my hand felt suddenly heavy, cold, and dead as a block of concrete.
The sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling glass of my forty-third-floor penthouse, illuminating the scattered silk dress on the rug, the two empty scotch glasses, and Madison sitting up in the white sheets, pulling the duvet over her bare shoulders with an innocent, confused expression on her face.
"What do you mean, Patricia?" I choked out, my voice cracking into a raspy, panicked whisper. "What do I need to understand about Madison?"
On the other end of the line, Patricia Holloway—Chicago's most feared corporate divorce attorney—let out a slow, deliberate exhale that chilled my blood.
"Madison Vance is not a twenty-four-year-old fashion consultant from Miami, Mr. Morgan," Patricia revealed flatly. Every word dropped into the quiet penthouse like an iron hammer. "Her real name is Madison Sterling. She is the younger sister of Victor Sterling—the CEO of Sterling Global Logistics, your primary corporate competitor."
My stomach plummeted straight into the floorboards. The air left my lungs in one shuddering, agonizing gasp.
"What...?" I stammered, turning slowly to face the bedroom, my eyes locking onto Madison.
The innocent, sweet expression on Madison's face completely vanished.
She didn't look confused anymore. A slow, chilling, and arrogant smile touched her lips as she tossed the white sheet aside, standing up from the bed, wrapping a silk robe around her body, and walking toward me with a cold, predatory confidence.
"And Mr. Morgan," Patricia Holloway added smoothly through the phone receiver, "while you were spending the last six months taking Miss Sterling to Miami, Tokyo, and Paris, your wife, Claire, was working as a special advisor to the Federal Trade Commission and the Board of Directors of Morgan Enterprises."
"Claire... worked with the FTC?!" I gasped, my knees shaking so violently I had to lean my shoulder against the cold glass window.
"Claire Bennett Morgan was the sole heir to twenty-eight percent of Morgan Enterprises' primary voting shares through her father's estate," Patricia explained with surgical precision. "Three days ago, under the uncontested divorce decree you electronically executed during your New York trip, Claire transferred those voting shares, along with her complete forensic audit of your secondary offshore accounts, directly into an irrevocable trust."
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Madison walked up to me, snatching the phone from my trembling hand, clicking the off button, and throwing the device onto the leather sofa with a light, mocking laugh.
"You really thought I loved you, Daniel?" Madison purred, her voice dripping with venomous amusement as she adjusted her silk robe. "You thought a thirty-eight-year-old arrogant corporate titan was so irresistible that a young woman would just fall at his feet? My brother and I have been tracking your illegal offshore acquisitions for two years. And your brilliant wife... she gave us the key to your front door."
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