Chapter 2
Daniel arrived at my house the next morning.
Vanessa was with him.
So were two suitcases.
I stared at them from the doorway.
“You actually brought her here?”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“Daniel said half the property belongs to him.”
Daniel walked inside without waiting for an invitation.
“I want us to handle this like adults.”
I shut the door behind him.
“Like adults?”
“We both benefited from my career, Emily.”
That nearly made me laugh.
Daniel had always been an excellent scientist.
Brilliant, ambitious, disciplined in the laboratory.
Financially?
A disaster.
I was a biomedical patent attorney.
And while Daniel spent years chasing prestige in academic medicine, I had quietly built something of my own.
A medical technology investment company.
Northstar Biomedical.
Daniel knew the name.
Practically everyone in his field did.
What Daniel did not know was that I owned seventy-two percent of the company.
My role had never been heavily publicized because much of my legal practice involved companies operating in the same sector.
My managing partner, Marcus Lee, represented Northstar publicly.
Eighteen months earlier, Northstar had invested $4.8 million into a gene-therapy program at Daniel’s research institute.
That investment had kept several projects alive.
Including his.
Daniel sat across from me and opened a folder.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“The house sold.”
He began listing demands.
“Half the equity. Half your retirement savings. Temporary support while I establish myself here again.”
Vanessa looked pleased.
Daniel continued.
“My overseas research income remains mine, obviously.”
I flipped through the papers.
“You planned this carefully.”
“I’ve had plenty of time.”
Apparently three years.
I closed the folder.
“So have I.”
My attorney filed for divorce that evening.
Two days later, my accountant found something Daniel apparently hadn’t included in his careful plans.
He had used our joint home-equity credit line to finance his new family.
More than $186,000.
An apartment for Vanessa.
Vacations.
Jewelry.
Private preschool tuition.
Living expenses.
Money pulled against the home I had spent three years maintaining alone.
Then Marcus called.
“Emily, come to the office.”
“What happened?”
“You’re going to want to see this in person.”
A routine compliance review at Northstar had flagged reimbursement requests from Daniel’s Swiss laboratory.
Equipment.
Consultants.
Travel.
Specialized research expenses.
Some of the vendors didn’t exist.
One company did.
And it belonged to Vanessa.
I looked up from the documents.
“How much are we talking about?”
Marcus hesitated.
“About $640,000.”
I stared at him.
“Has the institute been informed?”
“Not yet.”
I leaned back slowly.
Daniel had not only betrayed the wrong wife.
He had apparently defrauded the wrong investor.
Meanwhile, he continued acting as though I were the problem.
Mutual friends started hearing that I had been “cold” and “emotionally unavailable.”
Daniel posted photographs with Vanessa and the twins.
Fresh start.
New chapter.
New beginnings.
Then he called me.
“My lawyer says you’re challenging the house settlement.”
“I’m challenging your calculations.”
“Emily, this bitterness isn’t helping.”
“I’m not bitter.”
“You’ve always wanted control.”
I glanced around my desk.
Fake invoices.
Bank statements.
Corporate records.
Emails.
Photographs.
“You’re right about one thing.”
“What?”
“I do like having things properly documented.”
A long silence followed.
Then Daniel laughed.
“Are you threatening me?”
“No.”
I closed the file.
“I’m inviting you to a meeting on Friday.”
“What meeting?”
“The one concerning your research funding.”
His voice changed instantly.
“What could you possibly have to do with my funding?”
May you like
I smiled.
“Show up and you’ll find out.”
