Chapter 6 - The Betrayal Cracks
Sabrina’s lower lip quivered as she looked between Evan and me. The solidarity that had fueled their arrogant affair in corporate boardrooms and luxury hotels evaporated in an instant.
"Evan, tell her," Sabrina stammered, her voice shrill and panicked. "Tell her it was your idea! You told me that as executive VP, you had discretionary control over the entertainment budget! You said Claire didn't care about corporate finances as long as the dividends cleared!"
Evan whipped around, his eyes blazing with furious betrayal. "Shut your mouth, Sabrina! You were the one demanding weekend trips to Miami and designer bags! You threatened to walk away from the partnership deal if I didn't fund your lifestyle!"
"I threatened nothing! You were the one desperate to prove you were a big shot because you knew Claire held the real voting power!" Sabrina shrieked, stepping forward. "You told me every single night how much you resented her, how you felt like a kept man in your own house, and how you were going to divorce her the moment the company merger went through!"
I sat back in my leather chair, watching them tear each other apart with a clinical, detached satisfaction. This was the magnificent architecture of their guilt—built on lies, arrogance, and cruelty, collapsing under the very first wave of pressure.
"That is a complete fabrication!" Evan yelled, lunging toward Sabrina before the two security guards intercepted him, pinning his arms behind his back. "You manipulative snake! You planned all of this to trap me!"
"Trap you? You were more than happy to be trapped as long as the company credit card covered your champagne and caviar!" Sabrina sobbed, wiping mascara from her cheek. She turned her tear-streaked face toward me, pressing her hands together in a desperate plea. "Mrs. Bennett, please. Please listen to me. I was just an employee following executive orders. Evan coerced me! He said if I didn't comply with his personal demands, he would terminate my contract and blacklist me from the industry!"
"That is an outrageous lie!" Evan bellowed, struggling against the guards. "Claire, you know me! We were married for twelve years! Don't listen to this gold-digging parasite!"
"Twelve years, Evan," I repeated softly, standing up from my desk and walking around to stand directly in front of him. I looked into his bloodshot, panicked eyes. "Twelve years of sharing a home, raising a child, and building a life. And when our son was lying in a hospital bed, burning with a fatal fever, you chose to be in a hotel room with her.
Evan stopped struggling. The fight drained out of him, leaving only a hollow, pathetic shell. "Claire... please. Noah... I know I messed up with Noah. I regret it every second. I would give anything to turn back time—"
"You can't turn back time, Evan," I interrupted, my voice dropping to a freezing whisper. "And you will never see another cent of my money, another title in my company, or another moment of peace in your life."
I turned to Marcus Vance. "Have security escort them both off the premises. And make sure the building manager knows their biometric access cards are permanently deactivated."
"Right away, Claire," Marcus said.
May you like
As the guards dragged a screaming, cursing Evan and a weeping Sabrina toward the double doors, I walked back to my desk, picked up the framed photograph of Noah, and traced his smiling face with my thumb.
"We're just getting started, baby," I whispered to the empty room.
