The day our divorce became official, Dominic Vance walked out of the Manhattan courthouse wearing the smile of a man convinced he had taken everything from me.<\/p>\n
Natalie, his new girlfriend, held tightly to his arm.<\/p>\n
Dominic looked directly at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t only lose your husband. You lost the company too.\u201d<\/p>\n
I smiled.<\/p>\n
He mistook that smile for denial.<\/p>\n
Natalie adjusted the expensive handbag on her shoulder.<\/p>\n
I recognized it immediately.<\/p>\n
Three months earlier, the purchase had appeared on one of Crestwood Holdings\u2019 corporate expense reports.<\/p>\n
She noticed me looking.<\/p>\n
\u201cAudrey,\u201d she said sweetly, \u201cyou look exhausted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dominic laughed.<\/p>\n
Once, that sound had made me feel safe.<\/p>\n
Now it sounded empty.<\/p>\n
Five years of marriage had ended with one judge\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n
But Dominic believed something much bigger had ended with it.<\/p>\n
My influence.<\/p>\n
My place inside Crestwood Holdings.<\/p>\n
My family\u2019s control over the company my father had spent decades building.<\/p>\n
Dominic stepped closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou still think no one can touch you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought our marriage failed because you couldn\u2019t remain faithful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Natalie stiffened.<\/p>\n
Dominic ignored the comment.<\/p>\n
Then he started explaining just how powerful he thought he had become.<\/p>\n
His mother had placed loyal employees throughout the company.<\/p>\n
His relatives controlled procurement.<\/p>\n
Consultants connected to his family managed major contracts.<\/p>\n
Vendors answered to people he trusted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re everywhere,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can\u2019t remove us without destroying Crestwood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Natalie smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooks like the princess finally discovered the castle isn\u2019t hers.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked directly at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou haven\u2019t won anything. You simply collected what I chose to leave behind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dominic\u2019s smile faded for half a second.<\/p>\n
He tightened his grip on her arm.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy family is buried too deeply inside that company.\u201d<\/p>\n
For years, I had seen the warning signs.<\/p>\n
Inflated invoices.<\/p>\n
Relatives hired into positions they were not qualified to hold.<\/p>\n
Strange purchases.<\/p>\n
Late meetings.<\/p>\n
Vendors whose work never matched their bills.<\/p>\n
I had noticed everything.<\/p>\n
I had simply refused to connect the pieces.<\/p>\n
Dominic had mistaken my silence for ignorance.<\/p>\n
I folded the divorce papers and placed them inside my handbag.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I suppose we\u2019ll find out how deep those roots really are.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned and walked away.<\/p>\n
Behind me, Dominic laughed.<\/p>\n
He had no idea it would be the last easy laugh he enjoyed for a very long time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The day our divorce became official, Dominic Vance walked out of the Manhattan courthouse wearing the smile of a man convinced he had taken everything from me. Natalie, his new girlfriend, held tightly to his arm. Dominic looked directly at me. \u201cYou didn\u2019t only lose your husband. You lost the company too.\u201d I smiled. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","class_list":["post-547","sr_chapter","type-sr_chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter\/547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/sr_chapter"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter\/547\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}