Chapter 28: The Meeting He Chose For Me

The Ashford Holdings headquarters stood above the financial district like a monument built to intimidate.

Glass.

Steel.

Perfect symmetry.

Everything Damien valued.

I hadn't stepped inside the building since the week after our wedding.

The receptionist looked startled the moment she recognized me.

"Mrs. Ashford... good morning."

"Good morning."

"Mr. Ashford is expecting you."

That answer stopped me.

"He is?"

She nodded carefully.

"He instructed security to escort you directly to the executive boardroom."

So this wasn't a coincidence.

He had arranged this.

One of the guards approached politely.

"This way, Mrs. Ashford."

The elevator climbed in complete silence.

Forty floors.

Every passing number reminded me that Damien had chosen the battlefield.

Not my lawyer's office.

Not the estate.

His kingdom.

The doors opened.

The executive floor was almost empty.

Dark oak walls.

Framed awards.

Expensive artwork that looked selected by accountants rather than collectors.

The boardroom doors stood open.

Inside, Damien sat alone at the long walnut table.

His jacket rested over the back of his chair.

Several folders were neatly arranged before him.

A coffee cup remained untouched.

He looked exhausted.

Not physically.

Mentally.

He looked up as I entered.

"You came."

"You made sure I would."

"Sit down."

"I'll stand."

His expression barely shifted.

"Very well."

He slid the first folder across the polished table.

"Open it."

I didn't move.

"Is this another contract?"

"No."

"Then what is it?"

"Evidence."

That word finally drew me forward.

I opened the folder.

Inside were photographs.

The underground parking garage.

Locker 218.

Victor Hayes.

Me carrying Nathaniel's archive boxes.

Someone had followed me.

"You've been watching me."

"Protecting you."

"Don't insult my intelligence."

"The two often look similar."

I flipped through the remaining photographs.

"Private investigators?"

"Corporate security."

"Same difference."

"Not quite."

"Why?"

Damien leaned back.

"Because someone else has also been following you."

"Not my people."

"Someone I haven't been able to identify."

I remembered Rose's frightened expression.

The unknown man.

The missing recording.

"You expect me to believe you're protecting me now?"

"Believe whatever you want."

"Facts don't require belief."

"Then explain these."

He pointed toward another photograph.

Victor was speaking to me outside the storage facility.

"Who is he?"

"A friend of my brother."

"That's not an answer."

"It's all you're getting."

His jaw tightened.

"You're investigating Nathaniel's death."

"Yes."

"Without telling me."

"Why would I tell you?"

"Because you're my wife."

"That title has an expiration date."

Silence settled over the room.

For several moments neither of us spoke.

Finally Damien opened the second folder.

"This arrived anonymously yesterday morning."

He turned it toward me.

A financial report.

Across the top someone had written in red marker.

ASK YOUR WIFE ABOUT HAWTHORNE.

My heartbeat slowed.

Not faster.

Slower.

"Where did this come from?"

"No return address."

"No fingerprints."

"Someone wants us looking at each other instead of them."

"Maybe because they're succeeding."

"Perhaps."

I closed the folder.

"Why show me this?"

"Because I don't think Nathaniel died over a car accident anymore."

I stared at him.

"What changed your mind?"

"The accounting department."

"Explain."

Damien stood and walked toward the wall of windows overlooking the city.

"Three years ago," he said quietly, "our external auditors discovered irregular transfers."

"They disappeared before the investigation finished."

"Last week they appeared again."

"The same accounts."

"The same routing patterns."

"Different names."

"Raven Capital?"

He turned sharply.

"You've heard that name."

I didn't answer.

"Vivian."

"Have you?"

"Answer my question first."

"No."

A lie.

My first deliberate lie since returning.

He watched me for several long seconds.

He knew I wasn't telling him everything.

I knew the same about him.

"The board meets in seventy-two hours," Damien continued.

"Someone intends to force a vote."

"About what?"

"My removal as Chief Executive."

"Because of missing money?"

"Because someone wants me blamed for it."

Those words echoed Nathaniel's recording.

Someone inside his own family is using his name.

Was Damien finally seeing it?

Or had he known all along?

"Who benefits if you lose?" I asked.

"Several people."

"Names."

"My uncle Richard."

"Two board members."

"Perhaps investors."

"Perhaps someone else."

"And Colette?"

His expression darkened.

"What about her?"

"She stole my medical records."

"She entered my room."

"She searched my belongings."

"Did she?"

"Don't pretend surprise."

"I'm not pretending."

"If that's true... she acted without my permission."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"No."

"But it's still true."

Another silence.

This one heavier.

"Why did you really ask me here?" I finally said.

"Not for photographs."

"Not for anonymous letters."

Damien returned to the table.

He opened the final folder.

Inside lay a visitor pass.

My name had already been printed beneath today's date.

"Tomorrow morning," he said.

"You'll attend the board meeting beside me."

I almost laughed.

"Absolutely not."

"You will."

"I'm divorcing you."

"Not yet."

"Legally, you're still Mrs. Ashford."

"The board respects appearances."

"I don't."

"I know."

"Then why ask?"

"Because whoever is attacking this company expects us divided."

"We are divided."

"Exactly."

"Which makes us predictable."

He slid the visitor pass toward me.

"Appear with me tomorrow."

"After the meeting, continue divorcing me if that's what you want."

"One morning changes nothing."

"It might change everything."

"No."

I pushed the pass back.

"Find another performance."

"I'm done acting."

I turned toward the door.

"Vivian."

I stopped without facing him.

"Your brother trusted the wrong people," Damien said quietly.

"Don't make the same mistake."

"How would you know who he trusted?"

The room became very still.

When I looked back, Damien wasn't looking at me anymore.

He was staring at Nathaniel's name written across one of the financial reports.

"Because," he answered slowly, "the night before he died... Nathaniel came here."

"He asked to see me."

"And I refused the meeting."