Chapter 8 - THE EMAIL SHE COULD NOT UNSEND
Dana sent the package at 3:14 p.m.
It included the urgent-care note, still photographs of Emily’s wrist, screenshots of Ivan’s messages about the module, and two video files: the grill incident and the pre-party conversation.
Emily approved every attachment before it went out.
By 3:26, Ivan was calling.
By 3:40, Cynthia was.
By 4:05, two neighbors had texted asking if everything was all right because Cynthia had told people Emily was “having some kind of breakdown.”
Emily did not answer any of them.
At five, Dana filed for temporary exclusive use of the house and a short-term protective order based on Ivan’s physical aggression and threat escalation. Nothing was immediate. There would be filings, service, scheduling, and a hearing. But once the paperwork started, Emily felt a different kind of air enter her lungs.
It wasn’t peace.
It was direction.
The cost arrived that evening when Ivan emailed, not texted.
You are blowing up my career over a misunderstanding because you’re angry about Monday paperwork.
He cc’d Dana as if professionalism could disinfect the content.
Dana wrote back two lines.
Do not contact my client except through counsel. Preserve all relevant records.
Emily sat with Claire in the backyard after dark while mosquitoes worked at their ankles and Claire’s sons shouted at a basketball game inside.
“Do you think he actually believes his own version?” Claire asked.
Emily considered it.
“I think he believes he’s entitled to it.”
Monday morning the board dinner was postponed pending internal review.
That would have been consequence enough.
But at eleven Dana called again.
“There’s another complication.”
Stratton’s counsel had obtained the full unedited cloud archive directly from the security provider to verify chain of custody.
May you like
In it they found a longer clip Emily had not exported.
“You need to come in,” Dana said. “There’s something on it you should hear yourself.”
