Calmly, I opened my drawer and tore up the anniversary gift I'd spent months preparing.
——
The gala glittered beneath cascading crystal chandeliers. Duke raised his champagne flute, his smile warm and practiced as he addressed the room.
"I have an announcement."
My hand trembled around my glass. My heart stuttered.
I had orchestrated every detail of this evening—the venue, the flowers, the guest list. Thirty years of devotion woven into a single night.
Thirty years of building him from nothing into the man who now stood bathed in spotlight, commanding the city's elite.
I thought he would finally say what I'd waited three decades to hear.
Thank you.
"All shares under my name—including my core stake in EmpireStar Group—will be transferred to the woman I love. Stacy Jenner."
The room erupted.
My glass slipped. Crystal shattered against marble. Crimson wine splashed across my silver gown like a wound torn open.
Stacy Jenner.
The impoverished student I'd funded for ten years. The timid girl who once called me "Miss Sullivan" with such reverence. The young woman I'd taught to navigate high society, whose loneliness I'd soothed through countless nights.