Chapter 3

That night, my best friend sent another screenshot.

Mia had returned to the neighborhood group under a private account, apparently unable to resist showing off. In the comments, she described exactly what she planned to do at three the next afternoon.

She would bring me a supplemental settlement, she wrote. Beneath the signature page, she would conceal a stock-transfer authorization. Blake’s attorney had prepared tabs that would guide my initials and signature without letting me see the full document.

Once she signs, she and her little cripple can disappear, Mia wrote.

The replies called her cruel, delusional, and criminal. Mia argued with every one of them.

I saved screenshots, downloaded the page, and sent everything to my attorney.

At three the next day, Mia arrived with a designer handbag, a fruit basket, and the bright smile of someone who believed the ending had already been written.

Her loose silk blouse could not quite hide the slight curve of her stomach, but at the time I barely noticed.

“Eleanor thought there might still be hard feelings,” she said. “This just confirms that the playground incident is over. Sign it, and everyone can move on.”

The document was inside a presentation folder. Several pages were clipped together, but the stack was too thick for a simple release.

Mia watched my hands. “Go ahead. The signature tabs make it easy.”

I lifted the first set of pages and found a second agreement beneath them. It authorized the transfer of every Sullivan share I owned to an unnamed holding company for a fraction of their value.

“You really thought this would work?” I asked.

Her smile twitched. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Why is a stock-transfer agreement hidden under a medical release?”

“It isn’t. You’re trying to frame me.”

I turned my phone toward her and opened her posts. “Would you like me to read your instructions out loud?”

The color drained from her face.

“You saw those?”

“Every word.”

Her voice rose. “Then why did you let me come here?”

“Because I wanted the original document.”

The door flew open. Blake rushed in and looked first at the folder, then at Mia.

“Anna, everyone is trying to save the company. Sign the papers, and when we’re through this, we’ll make it right.”

I laughed. “What exactly were you planning to make right? Flying kites with Mia’s son while Lily waited for surgery? Divorcing me the moment you stole my shares?”

His face changed. “You knew?”

Then the pretense vanished.

“Fine. I love Mia. You’ve been hiding behind your father’s shares for years, acting like that makes you better than everyone else. Sign them. Today.”

He seized my wrist and tried to force my hand toward the folder. Mia reached for the papers.

I pulled free and held up my phone.

“The recorder has been running since Mia entered the room.”

They froze.

“And while you were here, my audit team secured Sullivan’s accounting system. We found the shell company, the fake vendors, and the money you moved through related-party contracts.”

Blake went gray. “When did you—”

“The moment you claimed Sullivan couldn’t pay for Lily’s surgery.”

He stared at me as if I had become a stranger.

“You think you’re clever?” he said. “We’re still married. Half of everything you have is mine.”

“That isn’t how inherited stock works, and you know it.” I closed the folder without damaging the documents and slid it into an evidence bag my attorney had given me. “If you want my shares, you can explain your claim to a judge.”

I pointed to the door.

“Get out. My daughter needs to rest.”

My phone buzzed as they left.

It was a message from the head of internal audit.

We have the records. All of them.