You Divorced a Genius Heiress novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: The Empty Chair
Desmond serves Calla divorce papers on a gala stage and crowns Kiera as the genius heiress; Calla signs on the lectern and asks one question before security drags her out, and a rival CEO steps into the doorway.
My husband served me divorce papers on a stage, and six hundred people applauded.
I was in row nine, in the grey dress he had asked me to wear.
He had called me two days earlier and said, "Come to the gala, Calla. Let me make it right."
I had believed him for about one second, which is how long it takes to be a fool.
The Austin Tech Gala filled the Lone Star Ballroom with chandeliers and men who liked their own faces.
Desmond stood at the lectern in a midnight-blue suit with no tie.
His hair was a black wave, and his veneers caught the light.
"Before I introduce our guest of honor," he said, "I have one piece of business."
He lifted a cream envelope.
"Calla, would you join me?"
Heads turned.
A spotlight found me and stayed.
I hate spotlights.
I have hated them since I was eleven.
I walked up the side steps anyway, because walking out would have looked like running.
He put the envelope in my hand and kept hold of the mic.
"Three years ago I married a woman who told me she was nobody," he said. "I'm learning that she lied about nearly everything."
A murmur went through the room.
"So tonight I'm ending it, honestly and in public."
The envelope said petition for dissolution of marriage.
It had my name on it, my legal name, Calla Wray.
The applause started in the back and rolled forward.
I looked at the man I had slept next to for three years.
He did not look away, and he was smiling.
"Now," Desmond said, "for the real reason you're all here."
The big screen behind him went white.
Letters came up in the Hartsfield Instruments blue.
VERIFIED: C. HARTSFIELD. LUMEN RELEASE KEY. LOWER COLORADO GRID AUTHORITY.
That was my key.
I had never shown it to anyone.
A tall woman in an emerald suit came up the steps with a high chestnut ponytail and a gold cuff on her wrist.
Kiera Tolan, Aldridge Labs, head of product.
She had eaten at my kitchen table twice.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Desmond said, "the author of Lumen, the genius heiress nine years in hiding, Miss Hartsfield."
The ballroom stood.
They stood for her, and they stood for the lie, and my husband put his hand on the small of her back.
Kiera did not look at me.
She twisted the thin chain at her throat once, and I saw it.
I stopped hearing the applause.
I had a choice, and I made it fast.
I did not cry, I did not beg, and I did not ask why.
I took the gold pen out of his breast pocket, signed the line on the petition against the lectern, and held it up.
"Signed," I said into his microphone. "Thank you for the pen."
The clapping hiccupped.
I turned to Kiera.
"Congratulations on the name," I said. "One question. Before Lumen had a name, what did I call the model?"
The ballroom went quiet enough to hear the ice machines.
Kiera's hand went to the chain.
"The early work history is proprietary," she said.
"It's one word," I said. "You'd know it."
"Windrow?" she said.
It was not Windrow.
Somebody in the third row laughed, then stopped.
Desmond's smile did not move.
"Security," he said pleasantly.
The screen changed.
A grey-haired man in an office appeared on a video call, and the caption named him as the Hartsfield trustee.
"The trust confirms the key and the identity of Miss Hartsfield," he said. "We have had no other claimant."
I had spoken to that man once a year for nine years, by email, with a signature.
He had never seen my face either.
Two men in black suits took my elbows.
"Mrs. Aldridge is unwell," Desmond told the room, kindly. "Please. Let her be."
They walked me down the center aisle.
Six hundred people watched me go, and not one of them knew they were watching the author of the program that kept their lights on.
The ballroom doors opened.
A man was standing in the doorway with his hands in his denim jacket, as wide as the frame.
He had a shaved head, grey eyes and a scar through one eyebrow.
I knew him from magazine covers, the other finalist for the grid contract, Desmond's oldest enemy.
Jarrett Raines looked at the guards, and then at me.
"She's with me," he said.
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend