Leonard stood.
“Effective immediately, Mr. Adrian Mercer is suspended from all duties pending completion of the independent forensic audit.”
Adrian laughed.
A sharp, disbelieving sound.
“You can’t suspend me.”
Leonard didn’t blink.
“The board voted forty-two minutes ago.”
“You don’t have the votes.”
“It was unanimous.”
The words landed harder than any insult I could have delivered.
Adrian looked around the ballroom.
Men who had shaken his hand ten minutes earlier now avoided his eyes.
Vanessa had moved several feet away.
He stared at me.
“You set me up.”
“No.”
“You’ve been waiting for this.”
“No.”
“You walked in here knowing exactly what would happen.”
“Yes.”
His eyes flashed.
“So this is revenge.”
I shook my head.
“No, Adrian.”
I stepped away from the podium.
“Revenge would mean I came here to hurt you.”
I walked closer.
“I came here because I finally stopped preventing you from hurting yourself.”
He stared at me.
“You think you’re better than me?”
“No.”
“You think because your father handed you a company—”
“My father handed me responsibility.”
His mouth closed.
“And for years, I used that responsibility badly where you were concerned.”
His face twisted.
“You gave me those promotions?”
“No.”
That surprised him.
“You earned some of them.”
I let that settle.
“But there were times you should have lost positions you kept.”
He said nothing.
“Projects you should have answered for.”
Still nothing.
“Doors that should have closed.”
I looked directly at him.
“I held them open.”
Something broke across his face then.
Because that was worse than believing I had built his career.
He had built part of it.
He had simply never known how close he had come to losing the rest.
“I protected you because I loved you.”
My voice lowered.
“And you turned that protection into evidence that I was beneath you.”
He looked toward the crowd.
“Claire, can we not do this here?”
I almost laughed.
“You burned my dress so I wouldn’t embarrass you in this room.”
His face reddened.
“You brought another woman here on your arm.”
Vanessa looked away.
“You told me I didn’t belong among the people whose salaries, divisions, and appointments I have voted on for more than a decade.”
Adrian’s shoulders sank.
“And now you’re worried this is too public?”
He had no answer.
Security approached from the side.
Adrian noticed.
“No.”
Leonard nodded once.
“Your access badge has been disabled. Corporate security will escort you from the property.”
Adrian stepped backward.
“You’re throwing me out?”
“Pending investigation,” Evelyn said.
“This is insane.”
Then he looked at me again.
And suddenly his voice changed.
The arrogance disappeared.
“Claire.”
I knew that voice.
It belonged to the man he used to be.
Or the man he knew I still remembered.
“Claire, please.”
For one dangerous second, my heart reacted before my mind did.
Eleven years is a long time.
Your body remembers someone even after your trust does not.
He took a step toward me.
“We can fix this.”
I looked at him.
“No.”
“Yes, we can. I was angry. I shouldn’t have burned the dress. Vanessa and I—”
Vanessa looked up sharply.
He stopped himself.
I almost felt sorry for her.
Almost.
“We’ll go home,” Adrian said quickly. “We’ll talk privately.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“The locks were changed two hours ago.”
His face went blank.
“What?”
“My attorney has prepared the separation filing.”
He stared at me.
“You’re divorcing me?”
Of everything that happened that night, that was the question that almost made me smile.
“You burned my clothes.”
He said nothing.
“You took another woman to a gala because you were ashamed to be seen with me.”
Silence.
“You may also have used company resources to benefit people connected to her.”
His face hardened.
“And somehow the divorce is the part you find surprising?”
“I’m your husband.”
“No.”
I looked at him for a long moment.
“You were.”
Security moved closer.
Adrian’s eyes became wet.
I had never seen him cry.
Not at his mother’s funeral.
