Chapter 15
I laughed harder.
In the background, my mother shouted, “Ask her if I can shoot him with the hose if he comes near my hydrangeas.”
For the first time that day, I cried.
Not from fear.
From relief.
Damian had spent years convincing me that security lived in his accounts, his apartment, his last name, his decisions.
My parents were sitting in a modest house under financial pressure, making jokes about garden hoses.
And somehow I felt safer with them than I had felt in a penthouse overlooking Central Park.
The next morning began at 6:12.
Mara called.
“Funding is paused.”
I sat up.
“How long?”
“Pending independent title review.”
I rubbed my face.
“And the board?”
“Still meeting.”
“Still?”
“They adjourned after midnight and reconvened at six.”
That was bad.
I knew enough about corporate boards to know emergency dawn meetings did not happen because everyone agreed.
“What did Damian say?”
“He continues to describe the second ownership schedule as unauthorized.”
“Mine?”
“He has stopped saying you altered it.”
“Why?”
“Because metadata from the company’s own document system shows the certification was uploaded by his office.”
I closed my eyes.
“Does that prove he knew?”
“No.”
“Does it prove I did not create it?”
“Yes.”
Something loosened inside my chest.
Not enough to breathe fully.
But enough.
At nine, my divorce attorney called.
Damian’s legal team had sent a letter accusing me of improperly retaining confidential business material.
Mara had expected it.
We answered with one sentence of substance.
All materials would be handled through counsel.
No arguments.
No threats.
No public statements.
Damian wanted noise.
We gave him paper.
By noon, Harbor Crown construction managers had been told to delay several nonessential commitments.
By two, financial journalists had noticed that the scheduled financing announcement had not happened.
By three, Wolfe Meridian issued a statement describing the delay as “administrative.”
By four, Damian was on television.
I watched from Mara’s conference room.
He stood outside Wolfe Meridian headquarters wearing a dark coat.
Cameras crowded him.
He looked composed.
Confident.
Almost amused.
“Harbor Crown remains fully funded and fully supported,” he said.
A reporter shouted a question about ownership.
Damian smiled.
“There is no ownership dispute.”
Another reporter asked whether a family matter had affected the project.
His smile became smaller.
“I do not discuss private family issues.”
I stared at the screen.
Private.
That morning, his lawyers had accused me of misconduct in a six-page letter copied to three firms.