Chapter 1 — Sell It

“Sell it,” I said quietly, into the phone, standing in the rain.

Water slid down my face as I pulled my coat tighter around my three-day-old daughter.

Lily slept against my chest, small and warm and utterly unaware that her first night home had already come apart.

On the other end of the line, my attorney said nothing for a few seconds.

Phoebe Reed and I had worked together for nearly eight years.

She had watched me hold my nerve through hostile takeovers, ruthless investors, lawsuits that would have flattened a lesser company.

She had never, in all that time, heard me speak about my own home in the flat, final tone I had just used.

“Jessi,” she said carefully.

“The house on Redwood Crest.

It’s still legally yours, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Luca was never added to the deed?”

“Never.”

“The mortgage?”

“Paid off in full last spring.”

“And the prenup?”

“Ironclad. Fully enforceable.”