My father sighed. He tossed the belt onto the coffee table.
"You hit her two hundred times," my father said. "I heard you counting over the phone."
"She deserved it!" Chloe suddenly shrilled from the sofa, her panic making her stupid. "She wouldn't sign the divorce papers! She’s trying to steal Marcus’s money! We were just trying to make her leave!"
My father turned his freezing gaze to Chloe. The mistress shrank back into the velvet cushions, her mouth snapping shut as if an invisible hand had wrapped around her throat.
"Her money?" my father repeated softly.
He walked over to the mahogany desk in the corner of the room. Sitting perfectly centered on the blotter was a stack of legal documents. The divorce papers Marcus had been trying to force me to sign.
My father picked them up. He adjusted his cuff and skimmed the top page.
"Marcus Pierce," my father read aloud. "CEO of Pierce Logistics. Seeking full retention of all marital assets, claiming your wife brought zero financial value to the union."
"Because she didn't!" Marcus shouted from the floor. "She came to me with nothing! I built my company myself!"
My father dropped the papers back onto the desk. He reached into the inner pocket of his overcoat and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. He walked over and crouched down, holding the paper just inches from Marcus's sweating face.
"Pierce Logistics," my father said quietly, "was heavily funded three years ago by a venture capital firm called Aegis Global. That initial injection of thirty million dollars is what saved you from bankruptcy, isn't it?"
Marcus blinked, the color slowly draining from his face. "How... how do you know about Aegis?"
"Because I own Aegis Global," my father said, his voice dropping to a terrifying whisper. "It is a front company for the Vance estate. The money you think you built your life with belongs to me. You are breathing my air, Marcus. You are sleeping under a roof I paid for. And for the last three years, you have been beating my little girl."
The silence in the room was absolute.
I watched Marcus’s eyes widen as the name finally registered. Vance. Even in the legitimate corporate world, everyone knew the rumors about Silas Vance. They knew he wasn't just a businessman. He was a kingmaker who destroyed anyone who crossed his family.
"No," Marcus breathed, his pupils dilating in pure terror. "No, Elena... her last name is Davis..."
"Her name is Elena Vance," my father corrected, standing up and towering over him. "And you have made a very, very severe mistake."
My father turned to me, offering his hand.
I reached out, letting him pull me up from the floor. The trauma blanket stayed wrapped tightly around my shoulders. Every inch of my back screamed in agony, but I stood tall. I looked down at Marcus, who was now trembling so violently his zip-ties were rattling.
"I wanted to be Elena Davis," I said quietly. "I tried to be a good wife. I tried to be invisible. But you couldn't just let me go, Marcus. You had to break me."
"Elena, please," Marcus whimpered, the arrogant monster completely vanishing, replaced by a pathetic, terrified boy. "I didn't know. I swear to God I didn't know."
"Dad," I said, ignoring him. "Did you look at the financials yet?"
My father nodded slowly. "My analysts ran the sweep the moment you called. You were right."
Marcus jerked his head up. "Right about what?"
"Aegis Global didn't just fund your company, Marcus," my father said smoothly. "For the last six months, millions of dollars have been quietly bleeding out of the corporate accounts. Rerouted into offshore shell companies."
Chloe let out a strangled gasp.
I turned my head and locked eyes with her. "You thought I didn't notice the bank statements, Chloe? You thought because I played the quiet, submissive housewife, I didn't know how to read a balance sheet?"
"She's an accountant," my father said to the room, gesturing to Chloe. "It takes a certain level of arrogance to embezzle from Aegis Global. It takes a monumental level of stupidity to do it while beating the heir to the Vance empire."
"I didn't do it!" Chloe screamed, pointing a trembling finger at Marcus on the floor. "It was him! Marcus made me do it! He said we could run away together once we drained the accounts! I swear!"
"Shut up, you stupid bitch!" Marcus roared, struggling against the operators.
"Gag him," my father ordered.
Instantly, an operator forced a heavy strip of tactical tape across Marcus's mouth, cutting off his frantic screaming.
My father placed a gentle hand on my uninjured shoulder. "Let's go home, Elena. You need a doctor. And we have work to do."
"What about him?" I asked, looking down at the man who had tortured me for years.
"Oh, we're not done with him," my father said, a terrifying smile touching the corners of his mouth. "He wants to be a CEO? Tomorrow morning, we're going to let him go to work."
Chapter 2: The Inheritance
The Vance estate sat isolated on three hundred acres of private woodland on the northern edge of the city. As my father’s armored SUV passed through the massive iron gates, I stared out the tinted window at the sprawling stone manor.
I hadn’t been back here in three years.
When I left, I had sworn I would never return. I hated the guards, the bulletproof glass, the constant paranoia of living as a Vance. I had desperately wanted a life where problems were solved with conversations, not tactical strikes.