By the time twenty-two-year-old Jenna Lane asked my husband to take off her shoe and rub her ankle in front of nearly four hundred employees, I had already heard enough “Daddy” jokes to last a lifetime. What I had not expected was to watch my husband kneel at her feet at our company’s annual gala while half the room stared at me with pity.
Chapter 2
The account belonged to a shell company called Lane Strategic Holdings.
Its sole beneficiary was Jenna Lane.
Beside it appeared a Northstar payment authorization bearing Scott’s electronic signature.
$2.4 million.
The ballroom erupted in whispers.
Scott shot to his feet. “Claire, what the hell is this?”
“We’re only on the first slide.”
I clicked the remote.
Receipts appeared from luxury jewelers, hotels in Aspen and Miami, designer boutiques, and a sports car dealership. The charges had been made through executive accounts during the months I had been on bed rest before Ethan’s birth.
One receipt showed a $48,000 diamond pendant.
I remembered the week.
Scott had told me he was in Seattle negotiating a major vendor contract.
Jenna had posted a photograph three days later wearing the necklace.
Her caption had been simple.
Daddy spoils me.
“You’re invading my privacy!” Jenna shouted.
I looked at her. “Company money isn’t private.”
The next slide displayed Northstar’s ownership structure.
Claire Bennett: 68%.
Family trust: 15%.
Institutional investors: 12%.
Scott Bennett: 5%, conditional executive equity.
Jenna stared at the numbers.
Her lips parted.
Scott sat motionless.
I stepped away from the podium.
“For the last year, my husband has represented himself as though Northstar Systems belonged to him. Apparently, that impression spread beyond our clients and employees.”
I stopped beside Jenna.
“You said you expected to own this company after Scott divorced me.”
Her face turned crimson.
“I never said that.”
I nodded toward the sound technician.
Her recorded voice echoed through the ballroom.
“Once Daddy divorces that old woman, I’ll be Mrs. Bennett. Then this company will basically be mine.”
Several employees covered their mouths.
I continued. “So I thought we should clarify something.”
I looked directly at Scott.
“Northstar was founded by me six years before you became CEO. The patents are held by the company. The controlling shares belong to me. And forty minutes ago, our board held an emergency vote regarding financial misconduct.”
“Claire,” Scott said quietly.
“As of seven tonight, Scott Bennett is no longer CEO of Northstar Systems.”
Jenna jumped up.
“What?”
She pointed at me. “You can’t do that! You’re just his wife!”
A few people actually gasped.
I smiled.
“Scott, perhaps you should answer her. Do I have the authority?”
He stared at the floor.
“Scott.”
His face was gray.
“She founded the company,” he muttered.
“What?”
“She owns it.”
Jenna turned toward him.
“You told me you owned everything.”
“Shut up, Jenna.”
It was the first time I had heard him speak harshly to her.
She recoiled. “Daddy—”
“Stop calling me that!”
Our chief financial officer, Linda Cho, rose from the head table.
“For the record, the finance department has frozen all executive discretionary accounts. We also discovered another seven-hundred-thousand-dollar transfer to a cryptocurrency wallet associated with Miss Lane’s brother.”
Jenna grabbed Scott’s sleeve.
“Seven hundred thousand?”
He tore his arm away.
Then Scott came toward me.
“Claire, please. We can discuss this privately. Think about Sophie and Ethan.”
“I am thinking about them.”
“I made mistakes.”
“Mistakes are missing an anniversary. You stole millions from the company.”
“I was under pressure.”
“So were the hundreds of people whose jobs you gambled with.”
Four security officers entered through the ballroom doors.
Scott looked around and finally understood.
“Claire, you wouldn’t.”
“I already did.”
He lowered his voice. “In a divorce, I’ll take half.”
That almost made me smile.
“You remember the prenuptial agreement?”
His expression changed.
“The one you signed with your own attorney present? The one containing an infidelity clause and provisions for misappropriated corporate assets?”
His mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
I leaned closer. “I keep records, Scott.”
Security collected his company phone, badge, and key card.
As they escorted him away, he twisted toward me.
“You’re destroying our family!”
“No,” I said. “You did that yourself.”
Jenna began edging toward a side door.
“Miss Lane?”
She stopped.
I glanced down at her perfectly steady feet.
“Careful with that ankle.”
For the first time all evening, the ballroom laughed.
Two hours later, I sat in Northstar’s boardroom with Linda, Rachel, our attorney, and representatives from our largest investor.
The numbers were worse than I had expected.
Scott had moved more than three million dollars through shell companies. He had also given Jenna access to confidential systems from her personal tablet. Our security team had detected suspicious attempts to access proprietary code through her credentials.
Fortunately, three months earlier, I had ordered those credentials isolated.
Rachel stared at me. “You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“When?”
“When Jenna posted a photograph wearing Scott’s watch.”
It was a rare Swiss watch I had purchased in Geneva. I knew exactly where it belonged.
I had not confronted him.
I hired investigators.
A marriage can survive an accusation if the accusation is wrong. A company cannot survive a CEO who knows he is being investigated and starts destroying evidence.
So I waited.
And Scott kept digging.
Near midnight, I went home.
Ethan slept in his crib. Sophie was curled beneath her blanket with one hand under her cheek.
I sat beside her and stroked her hair.
For the first time that night, tears came.
Not for Scott.
I cried because the man who was supposed to protect our children had treated their security like casino chips.
At twelve-thirty, the front door opened.
Scott stumbled inside smelling of whiskey.
“Claire.”
“Your things are packed.”
He dropped to his knees.
“Please.”
I had never seen him beg.
“Jenna meant nothing. She flattered me. I was lonely. You were always with the baby or dealing with doctors, and I—”
“Stop.”
He stared up at me.
“You were lonely while I was carrying your son?”
His face crumpled.
“Don’t take Northstar away from me.”
That sentence told me everything.
Not don’t take my children.
Not don’t end our marriage.
Don’t take Northstar.
“You had a wife, two children, a beautiful home, and a position most people work their entire lives to earn. I handed you a seat beside me.”
“I know.”
“You mistook the seat for the throne.”
He started crying.
I pointed toward the guest room.
“One suitcase. Twenty minutes.”
“This is my home!”
“The property belongs to my family trust.”
His grief became anger.
“You’re cold, Claire. You always were.”
I studied him for a long moment.
“No, Scott. I loved you enough to give you everything.”
I opened the front door.
“You’re confusing the end of my love with the absence of it.”
