Chapter 3 - The Empire Strikes Back
For the next six months, while my triplets grew strong and healthy under the watchful eyes of private nurses, I didn't hide in the shadows. With Julian’s vast financial backing and legal resources, I dusted off my old architectural and interior design degrees—credentials that Ethan had systematically forced me to abandon during our marriage to keep me dependent. Operating under a silent partnership, I quietly bought up prime commercial real estate in Manhattan, including the very mortgage holding on the luxury apartment building where Ethan and Martin Keller thought they had successfully discarded me.
Ethan’s life, meanwhile, was falling apart at the seams. Without my quiet support, his real estate firm had begun missing critical deadlines. His high-profile relationship with Sabrina Vale had turned into a public relations disaster; Sabrina was bleeding his bank accounts dry, publicly humiliating him at Los Angeles charity galas, and leaking stories to the tabloids about his fading liquidity. Ethan thought he was trading up for Hollywood glamour, but he had actually chained himself to an anchor.
May you like
Every single business account Ethan owned was slowly, legally choked off by shell companies managed by Vance Global. The Manhattan penthouse he had kicked me out of was foreclosed due to hidden debt clauses I had originally drafted years ago before he took over management. He was drowning in lawsuits, margin calls, and unpaid taxes, desperately searching for an angel investor to bail him out of bankruptcy.
And then came the invitation to the annual Met Gala and Autumn Charity Ball at the Plaza Hotel—the most prestigious gathering of Manhattan’s elite. Ethan managed to secure a last-minute ticket, hoping to pitch himself to a mysterious new venture capitalist who had suddenly bought controlling shares in his firm. He assumed he would charm his way back into wealth. He had no idea who the new majority shareholder actually was.
