Chapter 12 - EVERYBODY WAS DISPOSABLE
Tracy walked toward Joe slowly.
“You put the house in Leo’s name?”
Joe said, “For his future.”
“With stolen money?”
“It wasn’t stolen.”
“It came from your company.”
“My company.”
Claire cut in.
“Legally questionable choice of words tonight.”
Joe ignored her.
Tracy’s voice rose.
“You put my three-year-old child in the middle of financial fraud.”
“No one is accusing Leo of anything.”
“Not yet!”
Leo woke in David’s arms and started crying.
Tracy immediately went to him.
That moment changed something for me.
She wasn’t the red dress anymore.
She wasn’t the woman from Joe’s phone.
She was another person Joe had turned into a piece on his board.
So was I.
So was Tommy.
Even Eleanor.
Joe didn’t love people.
He positioned them.
Claire sat beside me.
“I need you to focus.”
“Trying.”
“The trust provision may let you suspend Joe as acting CEO.”
“Tonight?”
“If the fraud evidence meets the trigger.”
“What happens then?”
“You become temporary trustee of the controlling voting block.”
“And Mark?”
“He’s CFO.”
Mark called from across the room.
“Not for long.”
Claire looked at him.
“Are you resigning?”
“I’m cooperating.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only one I have.”
He looked at me.
“Sarah, I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re scared.”
He lowered his eyes.
“You knew Joe planned to frame me.”
“Yes.”
“You knew he planned to use Tommy’s medical history.”
“I knew some of it.”
“So when exactly did your conscience show up? Before or after the police?”
Mark had no answer.
Good.
I was tired of apologies that arrived only after consequences.
Detective Alvarez approached Joe again.
“Mr. Vance, we need you to come to the station.”
“Am I under arrest?”
“At this moment, we’re requesting your cooperation.”
“Then no.”
His lawyer had arrived.
Of course.
A silver-haired man named Peter Lowell, who had represented the Vances for years.
He whispered to Joe.
Then looked at me.
“Sarah, surely this can still be handled privately.”
I stared at him.
“Seven million dollars was stolen in my name.”
“Allegedly.”
“My signature was forged on video.”
“We don’t know the context.”
Tommy muttered, “Lawyers are wild.”
Claire heard him.
“Some of us.”
Peter continued.
“A public scandal will hurt everyone. Including Tommy.”
There it was again.
My son used as a threat.
I stepped closer.
“You people keep saying his name whenever you want me afraid.”
Peter said nothing.
“So here’s something everyone needs to understand.”
I looked at Joe.
“Tommy is no longer my weakness.”
My son slipped his hand into mine.
“He’s the reason I’m done being scared.”
Joe’s phone buzzed on the table where police had placed it.
The screen lit up.
A message preview appeared.
FROM: RAYMOND COLE.
PLANE READY. TETERBORO. 1:15 A.M. NO PASSENGER LIST YET.
Detective Alvarez saw it.
So did Joe.
He moved first.
He grabbed the phone.
Then he ran.
For one second, nobody reacted.
Because billionaires aren’t supposed to sprint through birthday parties.
Then Detective Alvarez shouted:
“STOP!”
May you like
Joe crashed through the ballroom doors.
And my husband, who had spent ten years telling me to act with dignity, ran barefoot through his mother’s birthday cake.
