I signed one page.
Not the agreement.
A receipt acknowledging delivery. My attorney taught me the difference years earlier after my father died and left me an empire hidden inside painfully boring paperwork.
Then I looked up.
“Congratulations,” I whispered.
Daniel exhaled like he had won.
Vanessa crossed the room and rested her hand on his arm.
I stood slowly, my daughter against my chest, blood warm between my thighs, spine straight as a blade.
“You have thirty minutes,” I said.
Daniel frowned. “For what?”
“To leave my house.”
His face darkened.
Vanessa laughed.
That was her first mistake…
Part 2
Daniel did not leave within thirty minutes.
He decided to call my bluff.
“You’re unstable,” he said while pacing my living room as Vanessa filmed me on her phone. “Everyone will understand. You just had a baby.”
“Say that again,” I replied calmly.
His eyes narrowed. “You’re unstable.”
Vanessa moved the phone closer.
I smiled.
The following morning, Daniel’s office received notice that he had been removed as acting CEO pending internal audit. By noon, his access card stopped functioning. By two o’clock, his bank called regarding frozen corporate accounts.
By five, he was pounding on my front door.
I watched him through the security camera while nursing our daughter.
“Mara!” he shouted. “Open the damn door!”
Vanessa stood behind him wearing sunglasses too oversized for her face.
“You crazy witch!” she screamed. “You ruined his company!”
