Evelyn looked across the table.
“They underestimated the wrong person.”
“They targeted three people,” I answered. “Me, Noah… and Luis.”
Before Daniel could sacrifice him, we contacted Luis.
Frightened but determined, he handed over copies of invoices Daniel had instructed him to alter.
A week later, Daniel requested an emergency custody hearing.
He arrived wearing an impeccable suit and the expression of a heartbroken husband.
“My wife vanished without warning,” he told the judge. “She’s emotionally unstable.”
His lawyer displayed photographs of the empty house.
Then Evelyn stood.
“We’d like to explain why Mrs. Mercer left.”
She played an audio recording recovered from Daniel’s tablet.
Vanessa’s voice echoed through the courtroom.
“If Claire causes problems, just tell everyone she’s crazy. Judges always believe the calm husband.”
Daniel’s face instantly turned pale.
The judge denied his custody request, granted me temporary sole custody of Noah, and prohibited Daniel from removing him from school or contacting him without supervision.
Outside the courthouse, Vanessa stepped toward me.
“You think one recording makes you powerful?”
“No,” I answered.
“Ownership does.”
I handed her an official notice announcing a special shareholders’ meeting.
Combined with the shares still held by my father’s longtime business partners, my inheritance gave me majority voting control.
Daniel snatched the paper away.
“You can’t remove me from my own company.”
I looked directly at him.
“It stopped being only yours a long time ago.”
For the first time since our separation, genuine fear crossed his face.
Unfortunately for him, fear led to desperate decisions.
