Mom: This is just the beginning. We’re gonna take that bastard down.

I clutch my phone so tight my hands tremble. Anger, fear, pain, and relief all warring in my chest.

Cory Martin’s reckoning has begun.

And yet, as the weight of justice begins to tip in my favor, fear tightens in my chest because the truth isn’t just about Cory. It’s also about me.

It’s about the perfect life everyone thought I once had. The one I played along with, smiled through, suffered for. It’s about the night I left Cory for good. The night that shattered everything. The night that could cost me more than my reputation, and more than my career.

It could cost me the only good thing I ever thought came from my marriage.

My child.

I stand frozen in front of the mirror with my hands gripping the edge of the vanity as I watch my reflection. My face is composed, but my mind is a hurricane.

Behind me, Vic adjusts his cufflinks and watches me in the mirror. He knows I’m unraveling, but he doesn’t push.

He doesn’t demand anything. He just gives me space. He knows when I’m ready, I’ll let him in.

In the meantime, he steps behind me as his large, firm, but gentle hands skim down my arms. “You look stunning,” he murmurs against my temple, his voice warm and grounding.

I turn toward him and allow myself to get lost in the moment.

He’s mesmerizing in his white tuxedo jacket and crisp black bowtie, the cut molded perfectly to his powerful frame—a sharp contrast to the soft tickle of his neatly trimmed grey beard as he presses a kiss to my cheek.

“You clean up well, Chef Grey Beard,” I tease, my voice soft.

“Oh yeah?” He slides his hands down my waist, fingers brushing over the curve of my hips. “So do you, Ms. Kind.”

We don’t break eye contact. Not when he leans in. Not when his lips hover over mine, waiting for me to meet him halfway. Not when my world shifts and settles in his presence.

I close the distance.

Our lips meet for a deep, intense kiss. He pulls me against him until there’s no space between us, just heat, pressure, and his hard, thick dick pressing against my stomach.

“I want to take you right here,” he growls, his breath hot against my skin as he kisses down the side of my neck. “Right now.”

My fingers curl into his jacket. God, I want to let him.

But I pull back, panting. “Vic…” I press my hands to his chest, steadying both of us. “We can’t. We gotta get going.”

He exhales hard through his nose and nods once, jaw clenched.

I glance down, then back up at him with a smirk. “Now, do you think it’s possible to make that go back down?”