Chapter 10 - Sign It
The next afternoon I met Grant quietly near the estate. He handed me the bound final copy.
"Read the financial clause again."
Three million dollars within sixty hours of signing. In return, I waived any claim to Damon's corporate shares, properties, and investment accounts.
"How much liquid cash does he actually have?"
"Around four and a half million he can reach immediately."
"So he can pay three."
"Yes. And he should take it. You're giving up claims worth many times that. He cares about Ashford Holdings more than anything on earth."
Back at the house, Marta told me Damon was alone in his study. I went up, knocked once, walked in.
He looked annoyed. "What do you want?"
I took the settlement out of my bag and set it on his desk. "Sign this."
His eyes dropped to the title. Marital Settlement Agreement. His face went still.
"Is this a joke?"
"No."
"You hired a lawyer."
"Yes."
He stood, came around the desk. "You think you get to dictate terms to me? You have no job. No income. No savings that matter. Everything you wear, everything you drive, everything you spend comes from me."
"What happens to me after I leave stopped being your business."
He picked up the agreement. His jaw flexed as he read. When he hit the financial clause, he threw the papers down on the desk.
"Three million dollars? For what?"
"My settlement."
"You're pregnant with a kid I never wanted."
"That child is legally yours."
"I will never acknowledge it."
"Then signing away your parental rights should be easy."
He turned his back. "End the pregnancy. Then everything goes back to normal."
I almost laughed. "Normal."
He spun around. "If we litigate instead," I said, "the court looks at marital assets. Six properties. The investment portfolios. Your stake in Ashford Holdings." His eyes narrowed. "And the one and a half million dollars you moved over three years into a Cayman shell controlled by Camille Beaumont."
Damon went completely still. "What?"
"I know about Camille. I know Theo is your son. I know you've been funding her. And I know you're setting up more offshore transfers right now."
"How?"
"From the day you carried that baby through the front door, I knew something was wrong. I found Camille's prenatal file in your jacket." Nothing. "I got a DNA test. Ninety-nine point nine percent." He took a step back. "I traced the money."
"How did you—"
"You forgot who I was before I was your wife." I let it sit. "NYU School of Law. Federal clerkship. Eastern District of New York. You treated me like an unemployed ornament for so long you forgot I used to take apart structures like yours for a living."
"You're blackmailing me."
"No. I'm offering you a negotiated exit." I put a pen next to the agreement. "Pay three million. Waive your rights. Keep your company."
"And if I refuse?"
"My lawyer files. And then everything becomes discoverable."
His face darkened. "You really think you can destroy me?"
"I'm trying to leave you."
"That's not what this is."
"You lied to me for five years. You kept another woman. You had a child with her. You drugged me. Then you brought your son into my house and expected me to raise him while you and your mother laughed about how dependent I was." I pushed the pen closer. "And now you're shocked that I'm fighting back."
He didn't pick it up.
"You have twenty-four hours," I said. "Tomorrow at this time — either I have the signed agreement or Grant starts filing."
I walked out. Marta was near the stairs holding a teacup. She'd obviously heard everything. She looked terrified.
"Marta. Stay out of this."
"Yes, ma'am."
I got back to the bedroom, locked the door, and my legs started shaking. In that study I'd looked calm. I was not calm. He had money, influence, lawyers, a name that opened every door in the state. I had a lawyer, a folder of evidence, a pregnancy, and whatever was left of my nerve.
But something had shifted. The woman I was pretending to be was slowly turning real.
Later I opened the camera feed. Damon sat behind his desk staring at the settlement. For a long time he didn't move. Then his arm swept across the desk — papers, ledgers, a lamp, all of it crashing to the floor. He shouted something I couldn't make out.
I closed the feed.
At seven the next morning, a knock. Damon stood in the hall, shirt wrinkled, collar open, face wrecked. The signed agreement was in his hand.
"I signed." I took it. Then: "But three million is impossible."
"You managed to send one and a half to Camille."
"That was over years."
"Three."
"Two. I'll wire two million now and you leave today."
"Three."
I brought up another structure Silas had found — a Geneva account tied to questionable consulting fees. The color drained out of Damon's face.
"How do you know about Geneva?"
"Your secrets aren't secrets anymore." I sat down at the vanity. "The number is three million."
He stood there for almost a minute. Then his posture changed. The arrogance just went out of him.
"Rosalind." I looked at him in the mirror. "Did it really have to come to this?"
"Yes."
"I made mistakes. Camille. The pills. Theo." My face didn't move. "I regret all of it."
"You regret losing control."
"No." He stepped closer. "You're the only woman who ever really stood beside me. We can fix this. We'll raise this baby together. We can be a real family. I'll end it with Camille. I'll send her back to the Bahamas for good. Theo can stay with her."
That stopped me. "You'd abandon Theo?"
His mouth tightened.
"The son you called your heir? The baby you've been carrying around this house for months?" He looked away. "You'd hand him off because your money's under threat."
"It's not that simple."
"It's exactly that simple." I shook my head. "And you want me to trust you with my baby."
"Please."
"No." I put the agreement in front of him. "Initial the financial clause."
He resisted for a few minutes. Then he took the pen. His hand shook as he initialed next to the three-million figure. He dropped the pen and his face went hard again.
"You're going to regret this."
"Maybe. But my biggest regret is that I didn't leave five years ago."
I gathered the documents and went downstairs. Vivienne was in the living room with Theo. Marta was making tea.
The second Vivienne saw the papers, her face changed. "What is that?"
"The divorce settlement. Your son signed it."
She shot to her feet. "You are not taking Ashford money."
"I'm taking the settlement Damon agreed to pay."
"You miserable little parasite. You'll get nothing."
"I'm not asking for your empire. I'm leaving Ashford Holdings untouched." I looked at Theo. "Think of it as the price of getting exactly what you always wanted."
She came at me. "Give me those documents. They're family property."
"They're my divorce papers."
"Rosalind." Damon's voice from above. He stood on the landing, gripping the rail, face gray. "Are you really leaving?"
"Yes."
I looked at him one last time. "I hope you and Camille get exactly the life you wanted."
Then I opened the doors. Behind me Vivienne started shouting, Theo started crying, Marta was trying to calm everyone down. Damon said nothing.
I walked out and didn't look back.
Grant's car was waiting at the gate. I got in and held my bag against my chest.
"Where to?"
"A hotel tonight. Tomorrow I find an apartment." I watched the estate shrink behind us. "Then I find a job."
Grant glanced over. "How much money can you actually touch right now?"
I checked my wallet. Almost nothing Damon couldn't freeze. Grant opened the glove box and handed me a thick envelope. "Five thousand."
"No."
"Take it. Pay me back when the settlement clears." His voice softened. "You're pregnant. You need food, a hotel, a way to get around."
May you like
I took it. "Thank you."
"Thank me after a judge signs off."
