While my husband lied about a “business trip” to vacation in Maui with his mistress, I was alone in the hospital watching his mother take her final breaths. When the mistress picked up my phone call to mock me, Margaret heard it all. Fueled by a lifetime of her son’s neglect, she gave me a secret silver key and a single instruction: “Destroy him.” Now, his tropical paradise is about to burn.

The transformation in Chloe was instantaneous and brutal. The loving mistress vanished, replaced by a calculating predator realizing the trap was empty. “You mean to tell me,” she hissed, stepping over his trembling legs, “that you dragged me to this depressing, stinking house, promising me a mansion, and you are actually a broke, unemployed loser?”

“Please, Chloe, just give me a few days to fix this! I’ll call Richard!”

Smack.

The sound of Chloe’s palm connecting with Mark’s cheek echoed like a gunshot through the tablet speakers. His head snapped to the side.

“Don’t ever call my number again, you pathetic liar,” she spat. She turned on her heel, grabbing her designer weekender bag. The front door slammed shut with enough force to rattle the windows, leaving Mark entirely alone in the empty shell of his life.