Part 2The Ex-Wife’s Billion Dollar Payday

I stayed home, prioritizing my peace and my pregnancy.

The doctor had confirmed it was twins. Two girls. I needed to keep my stress levels at absolute zero. I ordered a year’s supply of premium, custom-blended prenatal supplements, overhauled my maternity wardrobe with the new season's designer collections, and after a long spa day, I met my best friend, Penny, for lunch at a Michelin-starred spot downtown.

Across the table, Penny looked at me, her eyes rimmed with red. "Gemma, I haven't seen you since you got sick."

I swirled the sparkling water in my glass. "It’s been almost six months."

That illness had lingered, a stubborn shadow, until quite recently.

"How are things with you and Justin?" she asked, her voice hushed.

"Great. He treats me very well."

"Very well?" She looked like she wanted to scream. "Gemma, I heard he’s bringing her to the country club mixers now."

I smiled. "I know. But my mother-in-law gave me a fifteen-million-dollar apology."

Penny blinked. "...I guess that is pretty great."

"Penny, I’ve realized something," I said, leaning forward. "I was wrong all these years. When I married Justin, I shouldn't have just been thinking about love."

She looked at me like I had lost my mind. "But you guys met in middle school. You started dating in high school. You were completely obsessed with each other. Isn't it normal to expect a marriage built on love?"

"Hearts change." I took a sip of my drink. "It’s like how I used to strictly drink Diet Coke, and now I actually prefer fresh juice."

A profound sadness washed over her face. It was the same look the rest of my old friends gave me when they came to visit me during my breakdown. They all believed that the death of an earth-shattering romance required lifelong mourning.

I used to think so, too.

But I figured it out. Eighteen-year-old Justin promised to love eighteen-year-old Gemma forever. But twenty-eight-year-old Justin never renewed that vow. It’s pointless to trap yourself in the past.

I patted my stomach. "Look. There are two babies in here now."

Penny's jaw dropped. "You're having more kids with him?"

"Why wouldn't I? Emma promised me a twenty-million-dollar trust allocation and a two-percent equity bump in Crawford Industries per child."

Say what you will about Justin, the man was a corporate shark. And Theo had inherited his genius IQ. When my mother died, she left me an eight-figure inheritance, which I poured entirely into Crawford stock. Fast forward a few years, and my net worth had crossed the billion-dollar mark.

Why on earth would I walk away from an incubator made of solid gold?

Penny went quiet for a moment. "But Daphne is having a baby, too. When her kid is born, Justin is going to be distracted. If he rewrites his will, you might lose out."

"I thought about that," I replied evenly. "That’s why I’m having two more. It’s a numbers game, Penny. I’m diluting her equity."