Chapter 2
For three seconds, neither Daniel nor Margaret spoke.
Then Daniel laughed.
Not nervously.
Confidently.
“You expect me to be scared of paperwork?”
He grabbed the forensic report.
His eyes moved across the first page.
The laughter disappeared.
Margaret reached for it.
“What does it say?”
Daniel shoved it away from her.
“Nothing.”
I stood and went to the kitchen sink, soaking a towel in cold water before pressing it against my burning scalp.
Behind me, Daniel’s voice sharpened.
“You investigated me?”
“I audited my company.”
“Our company.”
I turned around.
“No, Daniel. Mine.”
His face changed.
That single word frightened him more than the divorce papers.
I had founded Marlowe Medical Logistics nine years before marrying him. Daniel joined seven years later.
I had made him an executive.
Never an owner.
He simply told everyone otherwise.
Margaret scoffed.
“You wouldn’t have anything without my son.”
I almost laughed.
“My company had forty-three employees before Daniel received his first paycheck from it.”
Daniel suddenly stood.
“You can’t fire me.”
“The board voted this morning.”
He froze.
“What board?”
“The one you thought never questioned your expense reports.”
I tapped the third document.
“Your employment ended at five o’clock.”
His face drained.
He grabbed his phone.
I continued.
“Your company email has been disabled. Corporate cards canceled. Building credentials revoked. Bank authorization terminated.”
He stared at his screen.
Apparently, he had just confirmed it.
Margaret rose.
“This is insane. Daniel, call the bank.”
“The bank already called me,” I said.
Silence.
Two weeks earlier, my accountant had noticed irregular vendor payments. Daniel had created a fake consulting company and routed money through it before transferring funds into an account controlled by him.
Then he got careless.
He paid Margaret’s contractor directly.
That linked her to the money.
Margaret’s face turned gray.
“I didn’t know where that money came from.”
“Perhaps.”
I glanced toward the security camera above the pantry.
“But you did know Daniel was hiding money from me.”
She followed my eyes.
Her lips parted.
“What is that?”
“A camera.”
Daniel stepped toward me.
“You recorded us?”
“It’s my security system.”
His hands curled into fists.
“You manipulative—”
“Careful.”
I lowered the towel.
A red patch covered the side of my forehead.
Daniel saw it.
For the first time all evening, uncertainty entered his face.
I had spent years reacting emotionally whenever he intimidated me.
Tonight I refused.
That terrified him.
Margaret suddenly pointed at the door.
“Get out! Both of you can fight somewhere else. This is Daniel’s house.”
I almost felt sorry for her.
Almost.
I pulled another document from the folder.
“The house was purchased six years before our marriage through Marlowe Property Holdings.”
Daniel whispered, “Claire…”
“The company is entirely mine.”
Margaret slowly sat down.
I looked at the clock.
Eight minutes had passed.
Daniel moved closer.
His voice softened immediately.
“Baby, listen. We’re angry. Everyone said things.”
“You poured soup over my head.”
“I lost control.”
“And stole from me.”
“We can fix the money.”
Margaret jumped in.
“This is family.”
“No,” I said quietly. “That excuse expired tonight.”
Then the doorbell rang.
Daniel looked toward the foyer.
I looked at the clock.
May you like
Exactly ten minutes.
“Right on time.”
