Chapter 12 - A Mask SlipsI slammed the physical file shut and slid it into my leather tote bag just as the door opened.
Richard stood in the doorway. He was wearing a dark raincoat, holding a sleeve of private documents. His expression was calm, but his eyes were unusually sharp, scanning the room before fixing on me.
"Charlotte?" Richard asked, his voice smooth and measured. "What are you doing here at midnight?"
"I could ask you the same thing, Richard," I replied, forcing my voice to sound composed, clutching my bag tightly against my side.
"I came to drop off the draft agreements for the Chicago expansion," he said, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. The click of the latch sounded alarmingly loud. "You left your lights on. I was worried there was a break-in."
"Just doing some late-night accounting," I lied, offering a tight, artificial smile. "Preparing for the quarterly audit."
Richard’s gaze drifted from my face down to the open filing cabinet behind me, and then to the tote bag on my desk. His smile slowly withered away, replaced by an unsettling, icy indifference.
"You went to Grafton today, didn't you?" Richard said softly.
My chest tightened. "How do you know that?"
"I have eyes on many things, Charlotte. It’s how I protect my investments," Richard said, taking a step closer. The mentorly warmth that had defined him for a year evaporated completely. "Ethan was a weak, pathetic boy. He had a golden goose in you, and he tried to strangle it out of sheer stupidity. I simply gave him enough rope to hang himself."
"You engineered his collapse!" I spat out, my fear turning into white-hot anger. "You drove him into a corner, suggested he steal from my company, and then showed up looking like a hero to buy up my hard work!"
"I saved your company!" Richard snapped, his voice dropping into a harsh, commanding register. "Without my capital, Hart & Flour would have been liquidated by the IRS! You would be bankrupt, working in some grocery store bakery for minimum wage!"
"You manufactured the crisis so you could buy forty percent of my life for pennies!"
"And look what I made you into!" Richard stepped directly into my personal space, his towering frame casting a shadow over me. "You’re a millionaire, Charlotte. You’re famous. We are a team. Don't let a bitter ex-husband in a jumpsuit ruin the greatest partnership of your life."
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"Partnership?" I scoffed, holding my ground, staring him dead in the eye. "It was predatory theft. And I’m going to the District Attorney."
Richard stared at me for a long, terrifying moment. Then, he let out a low, cold laugh. "With what evidence, Charlotte? A P.O. Box? Ethan’s word? Good luck. I own the best legal firm in the state. If you try to fight me, I will freeze your bank accounts, tie Hart & Flour up in litigation for ten years, and bankrupt you before you ever see a courtroom."
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