Inside my Range Rover, the courthouse noise disappeared behind tinted glass.<\/p>\n
I sat alone for almost a minute.<\/p>\n
No tears.<\/p>\n
No rage.<\/p>\n
Only relief.<\/p>\n
Then I opened an album on my phone titled Us.<\/p>\n
Thousands of photographs appeared.<\/p>\n
Our wedding.<\/p>\n
Vacations.<\/p>\n
Anniversaries.<\/p>\n
Family dinners.<\/p>\n
Then came the private-investigator photographs.<\/p>\n
Dominic standing too close to Natalie.<\/p>\n
Natalie leaving hotels.<\/p>\n
Receipts.<\/p>\n
Messages.<\/p>\n
Moments that once made me physically sick.<\/p>\n
I selected everything.<\/p>\n
Delete.<\/p>\n
The phone asked whether I was sure.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then I called my father.<\/p>\n
He answered immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cAudrey.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was all he said.<\/p>\n
No lecture.<\/p>\n
No judgment.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad. I was wrong about him.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was a long silence.<\/p>\n
Then he answered gently.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those two words nearly broke me.<\/p>\n
I told him what Dominic had said outside the courthouse.<\/p>\n
That his family controlled Crestwood now.<\/p>\n
That they had people in nearly every department.<\/p>\n
My father did not sound surprised.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey do.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we recover from this?\u201d<\/p>\n
He almost sounded offended.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe survived recessions. Hostile takeovers. Losing your mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then his voice hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will survive Dominic Vance.\u201d<\/p>\n
I smiled.<\/p>\n
Then my father\u2019s tone changed completely.<\/p>\n
Cold.<\/p>\n
Precise.<\/p>\n
Corporate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been waiting years for this call.\u201d<\/p>\n
I went silent.<\/p>\n
He continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur compliance department documented everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fraudulent vendors.<\/p>\n
Payroll manipulation.<\/p>\n
Inflated contracts.<\/p>\n
Illegal commissions.<\/p>\n
Consulting agreements that existed only on paper.<\/p>\n
Purchases disguised as business expenses.<\/p>\n
My breathing slowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI created Crestwood Holdings. Of course I knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why didn\u2019t you stop them?\u201d<\/p>\n
My father paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause you still loved him.\u201d<\/p>\n
That answer hurt more than I expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I had acted earlier, Audrey, you would have defended him.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was right.<\/p>\n
Dominic had not survived because he was smarter than my father.<\/p>\n
He had survived because my father refused to force me to see something I was not ready to accept.<\/p>\n
Then Dad asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you want to happen now?\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the dashboard clock.<\/p>\n
Just after one.<\/p>\n
I thought about Dominic standing outside the courthouse laughing.<\/p>\n
Then I answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt two o\u2019clock, I want HR in the executive boardroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCorporate Security at every entrance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLegal standing by.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDisable Dominic\u2019s building access.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRemove Victoria Vance\u2019s credentials.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCancel every company credit card connected to their family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFreeze every consulting agreement they control.\u201d<\/p>\n
My father listened.<\/p>\n
Then he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the employees they placed inside Crestwood?\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked back at the courthouse through the rear window.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery person involved in the scheme gets reviewed immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd anyone the evidence supports terminating?\u201d<\/p>\n
I started the engine.<\/p>\n
\u201cTerminate them.\u201d<\/p>\n
My father laughed quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWelcome home, Audrey.\u201d<\/p>\n
I shifted into drive.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not starting upstairs.\u201d<\/p>\n
I pulled away from the curb.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m starting on the ground floor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Inside my Range Rover, the courthouse noise disappeared behind tinted glass. I sat alone for almost a minute. No tears. No rage. Only relief. Then I opened an album on my phone titled Us. Thousands of photographs appeared. Our wedding. Vacations. Anniversaries. Family dinners. Then came the private-investigator photographs. Dominic standing too close to Natalie. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","class_list":["post-548","sr_chapter","type-sr_chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter\/548","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=548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter\/548\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}