The document slipped from her shaking hands the moment she reached the final page, because nothing in her life had prepared her for words powerful enough to end a marriage and erase a future in the same breath.

Adeline Marlowe stood inside a glass-walled executive office on the fortieth floor of a tower in Stonebridge Coastal City, six months pregnant and struggling to breathe as fear and cold air pressed in around her. Across the table sat Nick Drayke in a flawless charcoal suit, scrolling through his phone with total indifference while her life quietly came apart. Beside him, an attorney explained in a flat, professional voice that she would leave the residence within twenty-four hours and accept only limited temporary support under the settlement terms.