Chapter 17
Cecilia’s pen moved across her notepad.
Sloane whispered, “Chase, stop.”
He did not.
He pointed at me.
“She is doing this because I left her. Because I found someone kind. Someone warm. Someone who doesn’t treat love like a transaction.”
My chest tightened, but not from pain.
From memory.
Because once, years ago, I had begged him to come home from a donor dinner after my second miscarriage. He arrived at two in the morning, smelling of bourbon and victory, and told me, “Don’t make tonight about sadness. We needed that pledge.”
I learned then that Chase did not hate transactions.
He hated when he was not the one setting the price.
“Kind?” I asked.
I clicked the small remote in my hand.
A screenshot appeared on the screen.
A text exchange.
Sloane Mercer: Did the foundation card clear?
Chase Whitaker: Yes. Use the consulting category.
Sloane Mercer: For the bracelet too?
Chase Whitaker: No. That one is from home. Consider it symbolic.
The ballroom went silent in a new way.
Sloane’s hands rose to her mouth.
Chase looked at the screen like it had betrayed him personally.
I clicked again.
A receipt.
Cartier service record. Panther bracelet. Serial number. My mother’s name.
“My personal property,” I said. “Removed from my safe and given to Ms. Mercer.”
Sloane shook her head.
“I didn’t know.”
I turned to her.
“You knew enough to wear it in Aspen.”
She started crying again, but this time the tears came too fast, too ugly. Real fear lacks elegance.
Chase barked, “That is private marital property.”
Cecilia stepped forward.
“The bracelet is separately inherited property under New York law, documented in Mrs. Whitaker’s premarital estate schedule. Its removal has been reported.”
Another whisper storm.
A retired quarterback muttered, “Damn.”
Chase’s control began to crack.
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” he said to me. “You’re destroying everything we built.”
“No,” I said. “I’m separating it from what you stole.”
Dr. Reeves returned to the microphone.
“The foundation board has voted to preserve ongoing patient care while cooperating fully with outside auditors and law enforcement where appropriate. Our athletes will continue receiving treatment. Scholarships will continue. Staff will be protected.”
That mattered to me.
Chase had used sick bodies as decoration for his hunger. I would not let patients become collateral.
Cecilia held up a second folder.
“Dr. Whitaker has also been served this evening with a civil complaint alleging defamation, conversion of separate property, breach of fiduciary duty, and financial misconduct. A divorce filing has been entered. Temporary restraining orders concerning specified marital and business assets have been requested.”