She blinked, the first crack of genuine uncertainty fracturing her haughty facade.

Daniel let out a loud, forced laugh that sounded more like a bark of panic. “Don’t listen to her, El. Claire doesn’t know the first thing about anything. She can barely balance our household checking account, let alone comprehend the complexities of my corporate ledgers.”

I closed my eyes for a fraction of a second, letting the sheer, unadulterated irony of his statement wash over me.

That right there was Daniel’s fatal miscalculation. The greatest, most catastrophic error of his miserable life.

He’d spent so long silencing me that he’d genuinely mistaken my silence for stupidity.

For seven excruciating years, I had served as the invisible, unpaid architect behind his entire crumbling corporate empire.