Chapter 2 - THE MEN AT THE DOOR
The first person through the doorway was my attorney, Lauren Hayes.
She was followed by David Kim, president of Sterling Private Bank, and two security officers from the firm that protected my family’s properties.
The final guest entered slowly.
Ethan stared at him.
“Mr. Sterling?”
My uncle Thomas removed his overcoat and handed it to one of the officers.
At sixty-three, Thomas Sterling was tall, silver-haired and quiet. He rarely appeared in business photographs and never attended social events. Most people knew him only as the reclusive chairman of Sterling Capital.
Ethan had met him once at our wedding.
Beverly set her teacup down too quickly. Tea splashed onto the saucer.
“This is a domestic misunderstanding,” she said. “There was no reason to involve outsiders.”
Thomas looked at my swollen eye.
“I don’t see any outsiders.”
Ethan moved closer to me.
I stepped toward Lauren instead.
His hand dropped.
David placed a leather case on the coffee table. Lauren opened it and removed several documents.
Ethan forced a laugh.
“Emily’s upset. We argued last night. She’s making this look worse than it was.”
“You struck me four times.”
“That is not what happened.”
I held up the recorder.
His gaze followed it.
Beverly stood and tightened the belt of her robe.
“My son has been under enormous pressure. Emily knows how to provoke him and then play the victim.”
Thomas turned toward her.
“Mrs. Vale, you should stop talking.”
Her face stiffened. “This is my son’s home.”
“No,” Lauren said. “It is Emily’s home.”
She placed the property deed on the table.
Ethan looked down at it.
“Both our names are on the house.”
“Your name appears as Emily’s spouse and authorized resident,” Lauren replied. “You have no ownership interest.”
“That’s impossible.”
I watched him read the page twice.
The mansion had been purchased through a trust created by my late father. The deed listed Sterling Family Holdings as owner and me as the sole beneficiary with permanent occupancy rights.
Ethan could live there only while we were married and only while I allowed it.
Beverly snatched up the document.
“This can be changed.”
“No,” David said. “It cannot.”
She looked at me as if I had personally betrayed her.
“You told us you worked in a small accounting office.”
“I did work in an accounting office.”
“You let Ethan believe you were ordinary.”
I almost smiled.
“I am an accountant, Beverly. You decided ordinary meant powerless.”
Ethan pointed toward Thomas.
“You stayed out of our marriage for three years. You can’t walk in here and take over because Emily is emotional.”
Thomas’s jaw tightened.
“I stayed away because Emily asked me to respect her independence.”
He looked at my bruises.
“That was before I understood what she was protecting you from.”
Ethan turned to me.
“You called your family behind my back?”
“I called my attorney, my bank and the one person who can remove you from every Sterling property in the country.”
One of the security officers stepped forward.
Ethan’s confidence returned for a moment.
“You can’t throw me out without notice.”
Lauren slid another paper across the table.
“A temporary protection order was granted at seven forty-two this morning. You were served electronically and through your attorney.”
“I don’t have an attorney.”
“You do,” she said. “Your mother retained one for you six months ago.”
The room became silent.
Ethan slowly turned toward Beverly.
“What is she talking about?”
Beverly did not answer.
Lauren removed a second folder.
“Your mother has been preparing for the end of this marriage much longer than you realize.”
May you like
My husband stared at the woman who had encouraged every insult, every act of control and every demand he made of me.
For the first time, he looked less like her son than her next victim.
