Chapter 7
The sound was damaged.
“Important?”
“You stole from me.”
“You humiliated me.”
“And you slept with my son.”
Brooke swallowed.
For the first time, she no longer looked like a queen.
She looked trapped.
There was nowhere left for her to run.
No script to follow.
No mirror that could reflect a beautiful version of what she had done.
Nathan moved toward Emily.
“Listen to me.”
“I know I made mistakes.”
“But don’t destroy my life over one photograph.”
“We can repair this.”
“You have always been reasonable.”
Emily stepped away from him.
“Do not mistake my patience for a poor memory.”
She opened the drawer near the entrance and removed a white envelope.
“These are the divorce papers.”
“Rebecca Hayes filed them this morning.”
“The house is legally mine.”
“The joint accounts have been frozen.”
“And because of the provision you signed without reading, you lose your claim to the marital property due to documented infidelity.”
Nathan looked at the envelope as though it were a death sentence.
“You can’t do this to me.”
“No, Nathan.”
“You did this to yourself.”
“I simply arranged the consequences.”
Charles fell into his chair.
In a matter of moments, he seemed to have aged decades.
The man who had entered the house issuing commands now appeared too small for his own expensive clothes.
He went through the pages repeatedly, looking for one false statement.
One opening.
One error.
He found nothing.
“Emily,” he finally said, his voice rough, “who else has these records?”
“My attorney.”
“A federal financial-crimes investigator.”
“And, as of twenty minutes ago, the independent accounting firm responsible for auditing the Davenport Children’s Foundation.”
Brooke made a strangled sound.
“No.”
“Yes,” Emily replied.
“I included the photograph as well.”
“It provides useful context for the threats you sent from an unregistered phone.”
May you like
“And by the way, tracing the phone was very easy.”
“Your assistant purchased it using a foundation credit card.”
