Chapter 3 - The Queen’s Gambit**
By noon, I was sitting on the sun-drenched porch of Marcus’s coastal home on Sullivan’s Island, watching the Atlantic waves crash against the distant shore while listening to the muffled fury of my husband through my secondary burner phone.
Nathan had finally discovered the legal earthquake hitting his office.
“Clara! What the hell is going on?!” Nathan’s voice shrieked through the speaker, completely stripped of its usual cool, corporate arrogance. In the background, I could hear the panicked shouting of administrative assistants and the frantic slamming of office doors. “My chief financial officer just called me in a blind panic! The bank accounts for Carter & Vale have been frozen by court injunction! Corporate counsel is saying our primary asset backing has been recalled by your family trust! Are you out of your mind?!”
I took a slow sip of my iced sweet tea, letting the silence stretch out on the line for three agonizing seconds.
“Good afternoon, Nathan,” I said smoothly. “You sound stressed. Have you tried taking a deep breath? Or perhaps drinking some sparkling water to calm your nerves?”
“Don't play games with me!” he roared, coughing as his voice cracked with sheer disbelief. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?! We have a multi-million-dollar municipal presentation with the city council tomorrow morning! If the accounts are frozen and the headquarters lease defaults, the entire deal collapses! The board of directors is demanding answers, and I have no idea what to tell them because my own wife—my wife!—just launched a hostile legal nuclear strike against my company!”
“Ex-wife, Nathan. Keep up with the terminology,” I corrected, my tone glacial. “And as for your presentation tomorrow morning, I suggest you call Victoria Lane. Maybe her fancy consultant jargon can convince the city council to accept apologies instead of capital backing.”
A terrifying, breathless silence hung on the line.
“Victoria...” Nathan whispered, the fight suddenly draining out of his voice, replaced by sudden, cold horror. “How... how do you know about Victoria?”
“Nathan, please. Did you honestly think you were being subtle? Did you think that after eight months of sneaking around, lying about late nights, and treating me like an invisible maid in my own home, I wouldn't eventually notice the stench of your betrayal?” I stood up from the rocking chair, walking to the porch railing to watch a lone pelican glide over the surf. “You made your priorities abundantly clear last night across that restaurant table. You told me straight to my face that you wished I wasn't your wife. So, being the helpful, supportive partner I’ve always been, I decided to grant your wish.”
“Clara, please... let’s not do this rashly,” Nathan pleaded, his voice shifting instantly into the pathetic, pleading whine he used to reserve for minor business setbacks. “We can talk about this! We can go to counseling! I made a mistake—a stupid, meaningless mistake! Victoria doesn't mean anything to me, I swear to God! It was just a distraction, work stress, nothing more! Please, drop the injunctions. Let’s save our marriage.”
I felt a profound, liberating wave of pity wash over me. Not anger. Not sorrow. Just utter, hollow contempt for the pathetic man on the other end of the line.
“Our marriage died the moment you decided to humiliate me, Nathan,” I said firmly. “And your company died the moment you forgot who built it. Enjoy your board meeting tomorrow.”
*Click.*
I hung up the phone, powered it off completely, and dropped it into my beach bag.
Inside the sleek, glass-walled conference room of Carter & Vale downtown, the walls were literally caving in. According to Marcus’s network of contacts, Nathan had walked into an emergency board meeting expecting to bully his executives into submission, only to be handed formal federal and civil notice that the entire real estate portfolio, software licensing patents, and operating capital of Carter & Vale were legally sequestered pending default proceedings initiated by the Clara Vance Trust.
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Worse still, Victoria Lane had reportedly arrived at the office expecting to take over my old executive suite, only to be escorted off the premises by building security when her consulting contract was voided for conflict of interest and corporate misconduct.
The empire Nathan built on quicksand was sinking fast, and I wasn't even going to stick around to watch it hit the bottom.
