Chapter 4 - The Forensic AuditThe corporate offices of Mercer Enterprises were in a state of absolute, chaotic collapse by Tuesday afternoon.
Federal agents, accompanied by my father's forensic team, had executed a dawn raid on their databases, sealing the accounts and locking Daniel out of his own office.
I sat in the conference room of Vale Capital, watching the live feeds of the raid on my laptop. Daniel sat across from me, his face pale and unwashed, his suit looking wrinkled and cheap under the bright office lights.
"Claire, please," Daniel begged, his hands shaking as he reached out toward me across the mahogany table. "You have to stop this. My mother... she’s seventy. She can't survive a federal investigation. We can settle the divorce privately. I'll give you everything you want."
"You have nothing left to give me, Daniel," I said, my voice completely flat and cold. "The house, the cars, the family trust—it’s all being liquidated to pay off the debts your family owes to my father's firm. You are bankrupt."
"But the baby..." he stammered, looking at my stomach. "I'm his father, Claire. You can't raise our child in a war zone."
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"The war zone is inside your family's house, Daniel," I said, leaning forward. "And my child is never going to breathe that poison. By tomorrow morning, you will receive the formal custody papers. If you try to fight me, my legal team will release the video of your sister and mother assaulting me to every major network in the country."
Daniel looked at the table, a single, pathetic tear escaping his eye and sliding down his cheek. He realized, too late, that the quiet, submissive wife he had tried to train for three years was actually the queen of the kingdom he had tried to steal.
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