I Stayed for the $800 Million Divorce

"Eight hundred million. You should be satisfied." "You could work twentyfour hours a day for the rest of your life and never make that much." Last time, he was thirtyfive.

The company went public. He was worth billions. I gave him fifteen years. He paid me eight hundred million to go away, then married the woman everyone called his soulmate.

She had worked under him the whole time. After I came back, I told him I loved him anyway. He didn't have a dollar to his name. Starting over with someone new is a gamble.

And building a company is brutal. Better to let him eat all of it first, then leave with the settlement. This time, I didn't love him. I was just here to work.

Chapter 1 I did the math on my fingers. Eight hundred million. I could have started working the year the Mayflower landed and still not made that much.

And that was just what he paid to make me go away. I looked around the place we were living in. An ordinary highrise condo. Not the best part of town.

Still better than the three years before it. Back then we had a thirdfloor walkup with no elevator and a bathroom we shared with two other units.

In the summer the mildew got into your nose. Water stains crawled down the walls. Compared to that, this was a palace.

From what I remembered, in one more year Dorian would land an angel investor and the valuation would go straight up. One year until that money came in.

Ten years until he turned thirtyfive. Last time, that was the year he threw eight hundred million in my face. I wasn't in a hurry. By then I'd be living somewhere much nicer.

I'd waited too long for all of this to walk away halfway. The bathroom door clicked open. Dorian came out with his hair still dripping, a robe loose over his chest. I looked.

Immediately. Twentyfiveyearold Dorian had a very good body. Much better viewing than the thirtyfiveyearold version.

Before I could say anything, he headed for the door. "I'm sleeping in the study tonight.

You should think about some things." I stood there. "What— what's wrong?" He turned his head. "Don't play dumb." "Camille. I've told you this already. Serena and I work together.

She reports to me. Stop setting up meetings with her to warn her off." Right. Now I remembered. This was the week Dorian and I stopped speaking for the first time.

I'd decided his subordinate Serena Lockhart had her eye on him, and I'd told him over and over to keep his distance.

He thought she was someone to feel sorry for, so he kept walking her through her projects. Last time, this ate me alive.

This time, I had no interest in letting it turn into a wall between us. I looked up and gave him my most apologetic smile. "Okay, okay. My bad." "I won't meet her oneonone again.

Promise. "I wasn't trying to go after her. If it helps, I'll apologize to her the next time I see her." He was already at the door.

He turned around like I'd said it in another language. "You're serious?" "Totally serious!" I said, fast. Last time, I didn't figure out how wrong I'd been until the divorce.

Serena was never the point. Coming at her again and again only made him feel worse for her. It also handed the two of them more reasons to be alone in a room.

So this time, I left her alone. What I wanted was never on her. It was in his account, ten years from now. Chapter 2 To be fair, Dorian had a floor he didn't go below.

Last time, after everything I put us through, he moved into a separate room and then into a separate house. But I asked around afterward.

Before he remarried, he never actually crossed the line with Serena. So. Not the worst man alive. I handed him a mug of hot water with honey. "I promise.

No more jealous scenes." He cleared his throat. It took him a while to answer. "It's not that you can't be jealous." "A little jealousy is fine." Sure. That was his mouth talking.

I knew what he was like. I didn't buy a word of it. From that day on, I decided to run this marriage like a job. And if it's a job, you keep a clear head. No feelings invested.

Only time and strategy. Picking Dorian was, in a way, picking a good boss. His company would become the biggest AI company in the Bay Area. He'd be worth billions.

All I had to do was put in a few years, wait for him to make it, and walk out with the eighthundredmillion settlement. Who knows.

If I left quietly, no drama, he might even round up. The next morning. I worked in that kitchen for two hours and finally produced a pot of instant ramen.

When I set it on the table, Dorian stopped moving. "This is what we're having?" "Mmhmm." I sat down across from him and started on my bowl. Building a company is brutal.

Most of them die. Dorian was busy the way a man is busy when he's trying not to drown. Last time, I made soup for him every single day and carried it to his office.

He worked late, or he had client dinners, and I sat on the couch and waited. Sometimes until two in the morning. He never thanked me for it once. This time, I decided to slack off.

After three straight days of instant ramen, he looked up. "Am I going bankrupt?" "Nope." I took a bite of my softboiled egg. "Then why are you saving money for me?" "Come on." I answered without missing a beat. "You work so hard for it.

How could I waste it? I'm doing this for our whole family." The next time Dorian filed a complaint, I changed our diet. Eight straight days of takeout.

On day nine, a livein housekeeper and a private chef started on the same morning. They ran around the kitchen. I lay on the couch and watched TV, extremely pleased with myself.

If you can eat hardship, life will keep serving it. Last time, Dorian saw how tired I was and offered to hire someone to cook. But his mother was picky.

Every conversation came back around to how I wasn't much of a wife. Couldn't even get dinner right. So I taught myself to cook. To keep her happy. To keep him out of the middle.

This time? Whoever wants that seat can have it. I was going to slack off. An employee who never slacks off isn't a real employee. I'd decided to treat Dorian like my boss.

So I was going to have the attitude of staff. That night a reality show got its hooks in me and I accidentally watched until two in the morning.

Dorian came in from a client dinner, and only then did I notice the time. I felt like a kid caught watching cartoons past bedtime. I said hi and started to disappear.

He stopped me. "Are you in a bad mood lately?" Last time I waited up for him until two in the morning and he never asked me once. This time I stopped waiting.

Now he was asking. "Nope." I turned and smiled at him. Chapter 3 "What's wrong?" He came over and sat down on the couch, watching me. "You never used to watch TV.

Every time I got home from a dinner, you asked me who I saw, what we talked about, why I was so late." "Oh." I nodded like it had just come to me. "So who'd you see today?

What'd you talk about?" When he started telling me he'd signed three big accounts, I gave him the full treatment. "Wow. Babe.

You're amazing." It was so phonedin that even I could hear it. Dorian sat there for a few seconds. Then he got up and walked out without a word. He seemed a little angry.

Not really my problem. You don't think about work after hours. I stayed on the couch and went back to my show. Last time, I never watched TV.

I was too busy performing the role of a proper wife for an audience. Turns out TV is great. I had been trying way too hard back then.

The more deals he closed, the fuller his calendar got. And my life got easier and easier. Handbags. Clothes.

Dragging friends to the weekend food market when I had nothing better to do. Last time, I had no head for any of it. Back then, Serena took up permanent space in my head.

She was younger than me, and she had a degree from a name school.

She was pretty, she loved her job, she was always in and out of Dorian's office with a question, and there was a light in her eyes when she looked at him.

Once I noticed, I was jealous every day. I checked up on him. I played helpless. I cried in front of him and pushed him further away with every tear.

This time, I wasn't losing eight hundred million over something that never happened. That evening, Dorian booked a restaurant and called to take me out.

I looked at my show, half finished, and turned him down flat. "Some other time. I'm busy tonight." On the other end, Dorian let out a long breath. "Camille.

Are you still upset about the Serena thing from last week?" "Huh?" That stopped me. Serena hadn't crossed my mind in weeks. "What kind of question is that?

Why would I be mad at her? Ms. Lockhart is genuinely good at what she does. You should hold on to a partner like that." He hung up on me.

Soon it was his mother's sixtieth birthday party. Last time, that party cost me a lot of blood. I started a month ahead.

Picked the gift, ordered the dress, mapped out the evening, terrified of missing one detail. She still wasn't happy. The gift had no taste.

She had opinions about my body in front of a full table and told everyone I was too thin. Somewhere in there she got across that I didn't look like a woman who wanted children.

I cried in a bathroom for half an hour. Dorian came to find me and told me not to take it to heart. This time, I brought one card. An authorizeduser card on Dorian's account.

I wasn't spending a dollar of my own. "Mom." I got there first, and I hugged her in front of every relative in the room. "I didn't know what you'd like.

I was scared I'd pick wrong and ruin your night." I gave her my sweetest smile and pressed the card into her hand. "A little something from Dorian and me.

Buy whatever you want." She couldn't get a word out. Everyone told me what a devoted daughterinlaw I was. They laughed and said how lucky she was.

She had nothing she could say out loud. She had to agree with all of them and tell the room what a good daughterinlaw she had.

Last time, she and these aunts and cousins loved nothing more than asking when we were having kids. Every gathering, they circled me.

This time, I had an answer none of them could catch. Chapter 4 Last time, I always explained, awkwardly, that we were still getting ready. Every time, I got the same look back.

This time, they barely got their mouths open before I jumped in. "Yes! We'll start tonight! Consider it done!" My motherinlaw's mouth opened.

It took her a long moment to get anything out. "Sweetheart… you've changed so much." Dorian stood off to the side with a glass in his hand. I couldn't read his eyes.

Halfway through the party his assistant called. Something at the company. He was on his way out. I stood up. "I'll come with you." It would also get me away from these aunts.

His mother's forehead creased. "You're clinging to him again? He's out there building something, and you—" "Mom's right." I sat straight back down and waved him off. "You go.

I'll keep her company." Dorian looked at me. Last time, when he looked at me, his face was always calm. This time there was something loose in it.

After he left, I said I needed the restroom and slipped out the side.

I took a car to meet friends for latenight food, moved on to a bar until last call, then curled up at a friend's place watching old movies until it started getting light.

At five in the morning I got home and the living room light was on. Dorian was sitting on the couch. Suit jacket thrown to one side, tie hanging loose. "You're back." He looked up.

His eyes were bloodshot. "Where were you?" "Got something to eat with friends." I set my bag down and yawned. "Why are you up so early?" He stood.

He crossed the room one step at a time and stopped in front of me, looking down. "Camille Hart." He used my full name. "I haven't slept all night. "Have you stopped loving me?" I froze.

Then I laughed and hooked my arm through his