part 1
PART 1
“He forced her to sign divorce papers in a speeding SUV… not knowing the car was recording every threat.”
The rain hit the windshield so hard that Julia Hartwell could barely see the road ahead.
Cameron drove like the storm belonged to him.
One hand gripped the steering wheel.
The other slapped the divorce papers onto Julia’s lap.
The black luxury SUV cut through the wet Connecticut highway, tires hissing over standing water, headlights breaking apart in the rain.
Julia sat in the passenger seat in the same black silk dress she had worn to the charity gala twenty minutes earlier.
Her diamond earrings trembled against her neck.
Her hands were cold.
Her face was controlled.
But inside her chest, everything was breaking.
Cameron’s jaw was locked.
His tuxedo collar was still perfect.
His eyes were not.
“Sign before we reach the bridge.”
Julia looked down at the papers.
Divorce settlement.
Waiver of marital property.
Confidentiality clause.
Emergency separation agreement.
Every page had been prepared before tonight.
That was how she knew this was not anger.
This was a plan.
A phone lay in the cup holder between them, glowing on speaker mode.
Sloane Pierce’s voice came through calm and smooth.
“Make her understand, Cameron.”
Sloane was pregnant.
That was what Cameron had told Julia in the parking garage behind the gala, after dragging her away from the entrance in front of no one important enough to stop him.
He said Sloane was carrying his child.
He said the marriage was already over.
He said Julia would sign quietly because public scandal would destroy them both.
But he meant it would destroy him.
Julia lifted her eyes from the papers.
“No.”
Cameron’s head snapped toward her.
“What did you say?”
The SUV swerved slightly.
Julia pressed one hand against the door.
“I said no.”
Sloane exhaled through the phone.
“Julia, don’t make this uglier than it needs to be.”
Julia looked at the glowing phone.
“You lost the right to say my name.”
Cameron’s fingers tightened on the wheel.
“You think this is a negotiation?”
“No.”
Julia’s voice shook once, then steadied.
“I think this is coercion.”
He laughed.
The sound was ugly in the enclosed space.
Rain blurred the windows.
Somewhere behind them, faint blue lights appeared and disappeared through the storm.
Cameron did not notice.
Julia did.
She also noticed the tiny red recording light on the dashboard.
It pulsed once.
Then again.
Silent.
Steady.
The security system she had activated with the key fob when Cameron shoved her into the passenger seat was working.
Cameron thought he had trapped her in a moving car.
He did not know he had trapped himself inside a witness.
He shoved the pen toward her.
“Sign.”
Julia took it.
For one second, Cameron smiled.
Then she pressed the pen to the signature line and wrote two words instead.
UNDER DURESS.
Cameron saw it.
His face twisted.
He reached across the console while still driving.
Julia pulled the papers to her chest.
The SUV lurched.
May you like
The blue lights behind them flashed brighter.
Continue to PART 2 to see the state trooper stop the SUV, Cameron try to look innocent, and Julia answer one question that changes everything.
