Chapter 4
At eight, the audit committee received the evidence.
At nine, Victor was escorted out.
At ten, Meridian terminated him for cause.
At eleven, Kendra called me from an unknown number.
I let it ring twice.
Then answered.
Her voice came sharp and breathless.
“What did you do?”
I sat in my father’s office with Russell and legal counsel listening.
“I’m sorry. Who is this?”
She inhaled hard.
“You know who this is.”
“Kendra.”
“You ruined Victor.”
“No. I let him finish ruining himself.”
“You think this makes you better than me?”
“No.”
“Good. Because you’re still the wife he threw out.”
My cheek pulsed at the words.
I looked at my father through the glass wall.
He stood with his back to me, speaking to investigators.
He looked calm.
Too calm.
“You should choose your next sentence carefully,” I said.
Kendra laughed.
“Are you threatening me?”
“No. I’m warning you. Those handbags, hotel rooms, jewelry, and deposits were paid from stolen company funds. You’re not a mistress anymore. You’re evidence.”
Silence.
Then, softer, “What do you want?”
There it was.
The sudden shift.
Cruelty becoming fear.
“I want nothing from you.”
“That’s not true. People like you always want something.”
“You never knew people like me.”
She scoffed.
“What are you, Olivia? Some secret princess?”
I looked at Russell.
He gave the smallest nod.
I said, “Hartwell.”
Another silence.
Longer.
“What?”
“My name is Olivia Hartwell.”
Kendra stopped breathing.
Behind her, I heard Victor’s voice.
“What did she say?”
Kendra whispered, “Victor.”
He grabbed the phone.
“Olivia?”
I said nothing.
“What did you just say to her?”
I still said nothing.
His voice sharpened.
“Answer me.”
Seven years of that tone.
Seven years of my body reacting before my mind.
Not now.
“Do not call me again,” I said.
“Olivia, wait—”
I ended the call.
My hands shook afterward.
My father saw.
He entered quietly and sat across from me.
“You told him?”
“Kendra first.”
His mouth twitched.
“Efficient.”
A laugh escaped me.
Small.
Broken.
Real.
Then Russell’s phone buzzed.
He read the message.
“Victor is on his way here.”
My father stood.
“Good.”
I looked at him.
“Good?”
May you like
His eyes were cold.
“He always wanted to meet Arthur Hartwell.”
