The next morning, sunlight barely pierced the grey smog over the city when the heavy banging began on my apartment door.

*BAM. BAM. BAM.*

Lily woke with a sharp, terrified cry. My heart leaped into my throat, but I forced my breathing to stay level. Rachel had warned me this might happen the moment the emergency freeze notice hit the bank’s electronic alert system.

I picked up Lily, gently patting her back to hush her, then slipped my phone from my pocket and hit the voice-recording widget. Walking silently to the front door, I checked the peephole.

Ryan was standing in the narrow hallway. He was dressed in a pristine charcoal suit, his hair meticulously styled, but his face was flushed red with a terrifying, venomous rage.

“Claire!” he shouted through the wood. “Open the damn door! I know you’re in there! Open this door right now!”

I kept the deadbolt firmly locked. “Leave, Ryan. You have no right to be here. If you don’t walk away immediately, I’m calling the police.”

“You filed an injunction?” his voice cracked with disbelief and malice. “Are you out of your mind? My card was declined at the jeweler this morning! The hotel just sent an automated notice saying the master deposit has been flagged for fraud review! What the hell did you tell that lawyer of yours?”

“I told her the truth,” I said evenly through the door. “I told her that you forged my name to borrow a hundred and eighty thousand dollars. I told her that you stole my identity to pay for your wedding.”

A heavy silence fell over the hall for three seconds. Then, Ryan let out a cruel, rattling laugh.

“Stole your identity? Claire, you stupid, pathetic little mouse. You were my wife! Everything you had belonged to me anyway! You couldn’t even give me a kid when we were married, and now you want to ruin my life because I found someone who actually has class?”

I closed my eyes for a fraction of a second, feeling Lily’s tiny heart beating frantically against my chest. He had no idea she was right on the other side of the door. He was so completely wrapped in his narcissistic delusion that he hadn’t even registered that my pregnancy was real, that his child was here.

“You signed my name to a loan, Ryan,” I said, keeping my tone ice-cold. “You forged a quitclaim deed on my grandmother’s house. That’s grand larceny. You’re going to prison.”

The doorknob rattled violently as he tried to force it. “Listen to me, you bitch. You cancel that emergency filing by noon, or I swear to God I will drag you through every court in this state until you don’t have a penny left for rent. I’ll claim you authorized the LLC as part of our verbal separation agreement. It’s your word against mine, and nobody believes a bitter, dumped ex-wife!”

“I have the notary’s confession, Ryan,” I lied smoothly, bluffing with the information Vanessa had brought us. “Rachel spoke to Marcus Kane this morning. He cut a deal with the state prosecutor thirty minutes ago.”

Through the peephole, I saw Ryan’s face instantly drain of all color. His sneer collapsed into a look of sheer, paralyzing panic. His hands dropped from the door handle.

“What?” he stammered, his voice dropping into a frantic whisper. “Kane… Kane wouldn’t talk to you.”

“Leave my hallway,” I said, my voice echoing with absolute authority. “Or the police will be here to arrest you on my doormat before you can even put on your wedding tuxedo.”

Ryan took two stumbling steps backward. He stared at the brass apartment number on my door, his breathing ragged, before turning on his heel and sprinting down the carpeted stairs.

I leaned my back against the solid wood, letting out a long, trembling breath. Lily had stopped crying, staring up at me with large, dark blue eyes.

“Don’t worry, sweet girl,” I whispered, kissing her forehead. “He will never, ever hurt us again.”