Chapter 15 - Vivian’s Offer
Vivian contacted Marcus through her attorney.
She wanted settlement.
No criminal referrals from my companies.
No civil fraud claim over the mansion.
No cooperation with any investigation into Harrington Industrial.
In return, she would withdraw from the custody proceedings and leave the state.
Marcus finished reading the proposal.
“What do you want to do?”
“Nothing.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“I want discovery.”
“Elena.”
“She tried to take my children.”
“I know.”
“She fabricated evidence.”
“Yes.”
“She put ten-day-old infants into freezing weather.”
“Yes.”
“And now she wants to purchase silence with money she may have stolen.”
Marcus closed the letter.
“So we reject it.”
“We reject it.”
Vivian responded by escalating.
A tabloid published photographs of me entering a private corporate office.
The headline implied I had maintained a secret business life throughout my marriage.
That part was true.
The article estimated my wealth at more than eighty million dollars.
That estimate was not.
It was considerably lower than reality.
Within hours, the narrative changed.
I was no longer the poor designer exploiting a wealthy husband.
Now I was a calculating heiress who had deceived an innocent family.
Vivian could not keep both stories straight.
Marcus noticed immediately.
“So first you trapped Graham because you needed money.”
He smiled faintly.
“Now you trapped Graham despite having too much money.”
“Apparently I’m very versatile.”
It was the first joke I had made in weeks.
Then the article mentioned something no reporter should have known.
The exact date Northstar acquired the mansion.
That information was public.
But the article also knew that I had personally approved the acquisition.
That was not public.
Only a handful of people knew.
Marcus.
My investment director.
My outside counsel.
And Vivian.
I stared at the article.
“How did she know?”
Marcus went still.
Then he understood.
“She knew Northstar was yours before the night she put you outside.”
My stomach dropped.
That changed everything.
We had assumed Vivian’s horror at the doorway came from learning the truth.
But what if she had already known?
What if her shock had come because she realized I was finally willing to use it?
Marcus immediately ordered a review of every communication involving Northstar.
Six hours later, we found an email.
It had been sent eight months earlier from a private attorney to Vivian.
Attached was a beneficial ownership report.
My name appeared on page seventeen.
Vivian had known.
She knew I owned the mansion.
She knew I controlled the company debt.
She knew I had resources Graham never imagined.
And she still pushed me outside.
Which meant she had never believed I would be helpless.
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She had believed she could legally make me look guilty before I had time to fight back.
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