Without a dramatic farewell scene I walked away and headed to the airport to book a one way ticket using my maiden name. Six hours after our divorce became official Daniel
married Vanessa in an extravagant spectacle designed to show everyone he had moved on. They hosted four hundred guests at a lavish reception at the Halberg
Hotel. This location was filled with bitter irony since Daniel previously conducted his affair there. While sitting in an airport lounge I received constant updates from the florist and the hotel manager who secretly reported to me. None of them knew me as Claire Whitmore the discarded former wife of Daniel Pierce. They only knew me as C W Vale the chairwoman of Vale Meridian Holdings. While Daniel spent years loudly talking about building an empire I spent those same years quietly building a real one. My companies owned the Halberg Hotel along with the catering group serving his wedding and the bridge financing keeping his struggling firm afloat.
