Chapter 3 - The Thirty-Seventh StrikeBack at Fifth Avenue, I looked at the digital clock on the wall. It was 11:42 PM. Just eighteen minutes left until our anniversary officially ended, and I had one final transaction to make.
The personal shoppers had cleared out, leaving me alone in the private suite with the head manager, a sharp-eyed woman named Eleanor who had served Manhattan’s elite for decades. She looked at me with a mixture of profound respect and predatory fascination.
“Is there anything else, Mrs. Grant?” Eleanor asked quietly.
“Just one final acquisition,” I said, sliding the black card across the glass one last time.
Charge thirty-seven.
It wasn't for clothes, jewelry, or luggage. It was a wire transfer of five hundred thousand dollars, routed directly through a commercial real estate escrow account, securing the immediate, cash-in-hand lease of the penthouse directly above Alexander’s corporate office building—a penthouse owned by Grant Enterprises' primary competitor, Sterling Holdings.
The moment the transaction cleared, my phone didn't just buzz; it exploded.
Alexander’s personal cell line rang with the frantic urgency of a man whose world was actively crumbling. This time, I didn't let it ring out. I swiped the screen, brought the phone to my ear, and let the heavy, suffocating silence hang in the air for five full seconds before he could speak.
“Erin,” Alexander’s voice roared through the receiver, stripped entirely of its usual aristocratic calm. Background noise bled through the line—the sound of dropped silverware and gasping patrons at Le Cirque. “What in God’s name have you done? My banking app is locking down my entire portfolio. There are half a million-dollar wires clearing to corporate real estate, and my credit limit has been flagged for millions in retail luxury goods in under three hours! Have you lost your absolute mind?”
May you like
I took a slow sip of my white tea, my voice dropping an octave into a chilling, unfamiliar calm.
“Happy anniversary, Alexander,” I whispered. “You told me to buy whatever I wanted. It turns out, I wanted your freedom.”
