Divorce Me? Pay Ten Billion Dollars First

#Chapter1

If Harris Byrd had remembered to lock his photo album, Kasie Carlisle might still be married.

But he hadn't. And now she was standing barefoot in her kitchen on a Tuesday afternoon, staring at a photo of her husband naked in a hotel bed with another woman draped across his chest.

The image had appeared in the Byrd family's shared "Family Moments" album, uploaded by Harris himself. The location tag read The Greenwich Hotel. The time stamp was yesterday afternoon, when Kasie had been at a charity gala alone because Harris had claimed he was trapped in meetings.

She zoomed in. Below the woman's smiling lips was a small, familiar beauty mark.

Janiyah Vincent. Her college "friend." The bridesmaid at her wedding.

For a long moment, Kasie simply stared. Then something inside her went very cold and very still. The woman who had believed in this marriage-who had folded herself into smaller and smaller shapes to fit inside Harris Byrd's world-exhaled her last breath. In her place rose someone else. Someone who had been quietly preparing for this day for months.

She took a screenshot, sent it to her encrypted email, then deleted the original from the shared album. Let them wonder where it went. Let them panic.

Her phone vibrated. Margo Byrd.

Kasie stared at the name. She hadn't even decided what to do next, and already her mother-in-law was calling. That meant Harris had noticed the photo was gone. That meant he'd called his mother in a panic. That meant Margo was calling to do damage control before Kasie could make a move.

She answered on the third ring, her voice perfectly even. "Hello, Margo."

"Kasie." Her mother-in-law's voice was clipped and imperious. "Come to the study. We need to talk."

"Of course, Margo."

She ascended the grand staircase of the house that had never felt like a home. In the study, Margo's face was already waiting on the large monitor, her expression harder than Kasie had ever seen it.

"Let's not waste time," Margo began. "I assume you saw the photo."

Kasie said nothing. Her silence was confirmation enough.

"I've known about Harris and Janiyah for months," Margo continued, her tone matter-of-fact, as if she were discussing a quarterly earnings report. "I've also known that this marriage was a mistake from the beginning. You were never right for this family. We both know it."

Kasie's jaw tightened, but she kept her face perfectly still. Margo had known for months. Of course she had.

"I had our lawyers prepare a divorce agreement some time ago, anticipating this day would come. You sign, you walk away with one million dollars." Margo paused, delivering the final blow with surgical precision. "For a girl from your background, that's more than you could earn in a lifetime."

So this was the plan all along. Not a reaction to being caught-a long-planned eviction. Kasie felt something cold crystallize in her chest. Then, for the first time, she smiled. It was a cold, sharp, terrifying smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"Margo. Your son committed adultery. Under New York state law, I can drag his name through every tabloid and courtroom in Manhattan. I have evidence. I have dates. I have locations."

Margo's smug certainty flickered.

"You want a quiet divorce? Fine." Kasie leaned closer to the camera, her eyes locking onto her mother-in-law's. "My price is ten billion dollars. And half of all properties acquired during our marriage."

Margo's face went white, then mottled with rage. "Are you insane?"

"No. I'm getting what I'm owed. Four years of swallowing your insults and playing the perfect accessory. That has a price." She let the words hang, then added, almost casually, "And I have more photos. The kind the tabloids would pay a fortune for. The kind that would make the Byrd family a laughingstock for the next decade."

The silence stretched. Kasie could hear Margo's mind racing behind her cold eyes, calculating the cost of scandal versus the cost of silence.

"...Fine. Ten billion." Margo's voice was barely above a whisper. "But you have one month to leave quietly. And you will play the part of the loving wife until we make the announcement. Harris cannot know about this conversation."

Kasie raised an eyebrow. "He doesn't know you're calling me?"

"Harris knows the photo is missing. He doesn't know I'm handling it. And he will not know about this agreement. As far as he's concerned, you are still his oblivious little wife. Do you understand?"

Kasie almost laughed. Margo was protecting her son from the consequences of his own stupidity. She was so used to managing him that she was willing to pay ten billion dollars just to keep him from finding out he'd been caught.

"Fine by me," Kasie said. "I want it in writing. Signed by you. Tonight."

Margo's lips pressed into a bloodless line. "I'll have my lawyers draft it immediately."

"No. You'll draft it now. I'll wait."

Twenty minutes later, the agreement appeared on the screen. A single page. Ten billion dollars. Half of all marital properties. One month of silence. One month of playing the perfect wife. Margo's digital signature was already at the bottom.

Kasie took a screenshot. Then another. Then she forwarded both to her encrypted email.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Margo."

"Remember our terms," Margo hissed. "Harris knows nothing. You keep it that way."

"I wouldn't dream of upsetting him."

Kasie ended the call. A violent tremor ran through her body-adrenaline, fury, and something that felt almost like triumph. She walked to the window and looked out at the rose garden she'd tended for four years. No nostalgia. No regret. Only the cold pulse of a plan finally set in motion.

Margo thought she was protecting Harris. But what she'd really done was hand Kasie a loaded weapon. Ten billion dollars and a signed confession that the Byrd family had tried to buy her silence.

She picked up her phone and typed a message to Harris.

Dinner is ready. Come home soon.

Let him think nothing had changed. Let him think his secret was still safe. The performance had begun, and he didn't even know he was on stage.

Then she dialed Leighton Price.

"Leighton, it's me. The day we planned for has arrived. Get ready for a war."

A delighted shriek. "I knew it! Tell me everything. How much are we taking him for?"

"Ten billion. And Margo Byrd just signed a document that will make the best ammunition we could ask for."

A low, appreciative whistle. "Damn, girl. That's how you do it. I'll have the full papers ready within the hour."

Kasie hung up and looked at her reflection in the dark windowpane. The numb, tired woman from this morning was gone. In her place was someone with eyes of steel and a heart full of ice. Someone who was done playing the perfect wife.

The war had begun. Harris just didn't know it yet.