Chapter 1 - THE EMPTY CHAIR
Returning early from a grueling business trip to surprise her family, self-made investment mogul Evelyn Mercer arrives home to find an empty house and emergency calls from the hospital. At the pediatric ICU, she discovers her twelve-year-old daughter Lily barely surviving a severe anaphylactic shock—brought to the hospital not by her father, but by their housekeeper. A text from Evelyn’s assistant reveals a damning social media photo of her husband, Grant, partying aboard Evelyn's luxury yacht in Miami with champagne and a woman in a red bikini. Realizing Grant abandoned their suffocating daughter to play playboy on her dime, Evelyn ruthlessly freezes every single corporate card, trust account, and marina authorization under her name. Within an hour, Grant’s desperate calls explode past ninety-nine notifications, while Evelyn stays anchored by Lily’s bedside, ready for war.
