The elevator chimed with a soft, electronic ping.

The polished steel doors slid open. Evelyn stepped out into the massive, gold-leafed lobby of the Manhattan high-rise. Her face was a mask of cold stone. Her heels struck the marble floor with military precision.

She walked straight toward the front exit. The heavy glass revolving doors sensed her approach and began to turn slowly.

Evelyn pushed past the glass and stepped out onto the sidewalk of Fifth Avenue.

Instantly, the gray afternoon exploded into blinding white light.

Dozens of camera flashes went off at once, hitting her eyes like physical blows. The paparazzi were swarming behind the velvet security ropes. They looked like a pack of starving sharks smelling blood in the water. They shoved their massive lenses forward, screaming her name, desperate to capture a single tear or a look of defeat on the face of the newly divorced heiress.

Evelyn didn't flinch. Her face remained completely blank. She reached into her bag, pulled out a pair of oversized black sunglasses, and slid them onto her face, hiding her eyes completely. She didn't break her stride. She walked straight toward the black Maybach idling at the curb.

She reached out to grab the chrome door handle.

Suddenly, a flash of blinding, cheap red fabric stepped directly into her path, blocking the car door.

Skyler Croft stood there. She was squeezed into a deep-V haute couture red dress that was entirely inappropriate for a Tuesday afternoon. She held a massive, obnoxious bouquet of red roses in her arms. Her chin was tilted up in an arrogant, triumphant pose.

Ishmael Chen, Evelyn's head of security, moved instantly. A sharp warning crackled in his earpiece from the advance scout. He immediately pivoted, using his massive frame to form a human wall, successfully intercepting Skyler three meters away from the vehicle. His eyes were flat and cold, assessing the threat.

Skyler completely ignored the massive bodyguard blocking her path. She looked past Evelyn toward the glass doors of the building. She pitched her voice high and loud, making sure every camera microphone could pick it up.

"Kalen!" she called out, her voice dripping with fake sweetness.

Evelyn's stomach dropped. She turned her head slightly, following Skyler's gaze.

Kalen was walking out of the revolving doors. His hands were casually shoved into the pockets of his trousers. His bodyguard, Bodhi, walked a step behind him. Kalen's face was unreadable. He walked with a slow, deliberate arrogance.

The paparazzi went absolutely feral. The screaming doubled in volume. The camera lenses instantly pivoted away from Evelyn, locking onto Kalen and the woman in red. It was the ultimate explosive shot: the billionaire ex-husband and the rumored new mistress, right in front of the discarded wife.

Skyler smirked at Evelyn. She swayed her hips and walked right past Ishmael, who had to hold his position to protect Evelyn's flank, stepping directly in front of Kalen. She held the massive bouquet of red roses out to him.

Kalen didn't take the flowers. He didn't push them away, either. He just stood there. His eyes bypassed Skyler completely and locked dead onto Evelyn's face.

Skyler took his silence as permission. She turned her head back to Evelyn. A nasty, triumphant smile stretched across her glossy lips.

"Thank you, Miss Beaumont," Skyler said loudly, making sure her voice carried over the clicking cameras. "Thank you for finally giving Kalen back to me."

A collective gasp rippled through the pack of paparazzi. The rapid-fire clicking of the shutters sounded like machine-gun fire.

Evelyn's fingers tightened around the handle of her Birkin bag. The leather creaked under her grip. Her knuckles turned white. A hot, violent spark of pure rage ignited in the center of her chest and rapidly spread to her limbs.

She stared at Kalen. She waited for him to speak. She waited for him to tell this cheap pawn to shut her mouth.

Kalen did nothing. He stood perfectly still, his hands in his pockets. His dark eyes watched Evelyn through the chaos, cold and detached. He was enjoying the show.

The realization hit Evelyn like a physical punch to the gut. Kalen had orchestrated this. He had allowed this woman to come here just to publicly humiliate her.

Skyler saw Evelyn standing in silence. She mistook the silence for weakness. She took a step closer, her confidence swelling.

"You really are a loser, aren't you?" Skyler sneered, her voice dropping a fraction but still loud enough for the closest reporters to hear. "You couldn't keep your man, and now you're just a sad, discarded-"

Ishmael lunged forward to physically remove the woman.

Evelyn raised her left hand. It was a sharp, commanding gesture. Ishmael froze instantly and stepped back.

Evelyn reached up and slowly pulled the black sunglasses off her face. Her ice-blue eyes were exposed. They were completely devoid of warmth, sharp and terrifying. She locked her gaze onto Skyler.

Skyler's arrogant smile faltered. Her body stiffened instinctively under the crushing weight of Evelyn's stare. The fake bravado drained out of her face.

Evelyn let go of the Maybach's door handle. She turned her body fully toward Skyler. She took one slow step forward. Her red-soled heel clicked against the concrete. Then another step.

Skyler's eyes darted nervously. Her feet twitched, wanting to step back, but she forced herself to stay planted in front of Kalen. She wanted to prove she belonged there.

Evelyn stopped right in front of Skyler. They were so close Evelyn could smell the overwhelming, cheap synthetic vanilla perfume radiating from the woman's neck.

Evelyn let out a low, dark scoff. She let her eyes drag slowly up and down Skyler's red dress, looking at her as if she were a piece of rotting garbage left on the curb.

The sheer contempt in the look made Skyler flush dark red with anger. She opened her mouth, her voice shrill. "You dumped-"

Before the word could fully leave Skyler's mouth, Evelyn's right arm snapped up.

The movement was a blur. The air whipped sharply.

Evelyn's open palm slammed into the side of Skyler's heavily contoured face with the full, violent force of her body weight.

SMACK!

The sound of the slap was a sharp, explosive crack. It echoed down Fifth Avenue, instantly slicing through the chaotic screaming and the rapid-fire clicking of the cameras.

The sheer physical force of the blow snapped Skyler's head violently to the side. The massive bouquet of red roses flew out of her hands, scattering crushed petals and broken stems across the dirty concrete.

Skyler gasped, a wet, choking sound. She slapped her hand over her rapidly swelling cheek. Her eyes went wide with pure shock.

"You bitch!" Skyler shrieked, her voice cracking into a hysterical pitch. "You hit me? !"

Evelyn's face was a mask of absolute ice. She didn't blink. She didn't hesitate. She shifted her weight, brought her arm back, and delivered a second, brutal backhand directly across the other side of Skyler's face.

The second slap was even louder.

Skyler stumbled backward. Her thin stiletto heel caught in the cracks of the pavement. Her ankle twisted sharply. She let out a pathetic cry and collapsed backward, landing hard on her ass right in the middle of the crushed red rose petals.

The entire pack of paparazzi went dead silent for one fractured second. Then, the crowd erupted. The flashes strobed so fast the street looked like a lightning storm.

Evelyn didn't look at the cameras. She calmly reached into her Birkin bag and pulled out a small, custom bottle of liquid hand sanitizer and a pure white tissue. She pumped the alcohol onto her right hand, slowly and methodically wiping the skin of her palm and fingers with the tissue, as if she had just touched something diseased.

She stood over Skyler, looking down at the woman trembling on the ground.

"That," Evelyn said, her voice dropping to a low, lethal register that carried perfectly in the sudden hush around them, "is to teach you how to speak to a Beaumont."

Skyler burst into loud, ugly sobs. Tears mixed with her thick foundation, leaving dirty streaks down her face. She twisted her body on the ground and looked up at Kalen, reaching a shaking hand toward him.

"Kalen!" she wailed. "Look what she did to me! Do something!"

Kalen didn't move an inch. He stood exactly where he was, his hands still casually resting in his pockets. He looked down at Skyler with absolute, chilling indifference. He didn't offer his hand. He didn't say a word to defend her.

Instead, Kalen slowly lifted his gaze from the crying woman on the ground and locked eyes with Evelyn.

Evelyn saw it instantly. The dark, twisted hunger in his eyes. He wasn't angry that she had hit his supposed mistress. He was fascinated. He was watching her chest heave, watching the violent energy radiating from her body, and he was enjoying it.

Skyler looked back and forth between them. When she saw Kalen staring at Evelyn with that dark, consuming intensity, the last shred of her delusion shattered. Her face crumpled in pure terror and despair.

Evelyn finished wiping her hands. She balled up the tissue and dropped it. It fluttered down and landed directly on Skyler's tear-stained face.

Evelyn leaned down slightly. She lowered her voice so only Skyler could hear the brutal truth.

"He is using you as a cheap dog to try and disgust me," Evelyn whispered, her words cutting like glass. "Did you really think you could fly up to a branch you don't belong on?"

Skyler's entire body shuddered. She pulled the tissue off her face, her mouth opening and closing, but no sound came out. She was completely broken.

Evelyn straightened her spine. She turned her head and looked directly at Kalen standing on the steps. Her ice-blue eyes were filled with pure, unfiltered contempt.

Kalen met her furious stare. The corner of his mouth twitched, curving up into a faint, incredibly dangerous smirk.

Evelyn let out a short, cold laugh. She didn't speak out loud. She just looked him dead in the eye and mouthed one single word.

Pathetic.

Kalen's smirk vanished. The muscles in his jaw locked. Inside his pockets, his large hands curled into tight fists. A violent surge of possessive heat flared in his chest, making his breathing hitch. He had to physically force his feet to stay planted on the concrete to stop himself from crossing the distance and dragging her against his chest.

Evelyn broke the eye contact. She slid her oversized black sunglasses back onto her face, hiding the adrenaline still burning in her eyes.

She turned her back on him. She walked toward the Maybach with steady, powerful strides. She moved like a queen who had just crushed an insect beneath her heel.

Ishmael immediately stepped forward, pulling the heavy rear door of the Maybach open. He placed a large hand over the roof of the car to protect her head.

Evelyn ducked and slid into the deep leather seat. The cool, quiet interior of the car instantly wrapped around her, easing the violent tension humming in her muscles.

Ishmael slammed the heavy door shut. The loud thud cut off the screaming paparazzi and the blinding flashes.

Kalen stood on the sidewalk. He watched the dark tinted window of the Maybach roll up, completely erasing Evelyn's cold profile from his sight.

He didn't look down at the woman still crying at his feet. He turned his head slightly toward his bodyguard.

"Get rid of her," Kalen ordered, his voice flat and dead. "If I ever see her face again, it's your job."

Bodhi nodded once. He stepped forward, grabbed Skyler by the upper arm, and hauled her off the ground like a ragdoll, dragging her away from the cameras.

The Maybach's massive V12 engine let out a low, powerful growl. The black car pulled smoothly away from the curb, merging into the heavy Manhattan traffic.

Kalen stood on the steps, staring at the empty space where the car had been. He pressed his tongue hard against the back of his teeth. The phantom sting of her anger still hung in the air, and he tasted the dark, twisted satisfaction of it.

Inside the Maybach, the city blurred past the windows.