Chapter 2
I walked to his desk and opened the bottom drawer.
There it was.
A blue leather folder.
My name was written across the front in his unmistakable handwriting.
Inside were corporate documents, shareholder agreements, patent assignments, and a handwritten letter.
I opened the letter first.
My darling Clara,
If you are reading this, someone has probably made you question your worth.
Remember something important. The greatest mistake a powerful woman can make is believing she must become smaller so the man beside her can feel larger.
I protected your investments because I trusted your heart, but I never trusted the world to treat that heart gently.
The documents in this folder are your protection.
Use them when necessary.
And never apologize for owning what you built.
I pressed the letter against my chest.
Then I examined the documents.
And everything changed.
Four years earlier, when Sterling Dynamics was approaching bankruptcy, my family trust had invested $1.5 billion through an investment holding company called Ashford Capital Partners.
The investment had not been a gift.
It had been structured as a controlling equity transaction.
Ashford Capital Partners owned 62 percent of Sterling Dynamics’ voting shares.
And I owned Ashford Capital Partners.
The thirteen patents my father and I had secured were held by another family company, which licensed them to Sterling Dynamics under strict contractual conditions.
Ethan had been appointed CEO.
He had never owned a controlling interest.
He was an employee with an impressive title.
And I had been the woman quietly paying for his throne.
My phone rang.
David.
“Did you find it?”
“Yes.”
“Then you understand.”
I stared at the ownership documents.
“Why didn’t Ethan ever tell me?”
“Because he hoped you would never read the final agreements. Your father negotiated the structure directly with the lawyers. Ethan knew exactly what he signed.”
I felt something inside me harden.
“He knew?”
“Every single detail.”
David paused.
“And Clara, there’s more.”
I closed my eyes.
“Tell me.”
“Chloe isn’t just his secretary.”
I already knew what he was about to say.
But hearing it still hurt.
“She’s been living in his downtown penthouse for three months.”
The room became terribly quiet.
I thought of the late meetings.
The business trips.
The expensive perfume I had smelled on Ethan’s shirts.
The way he had begun calling me emotional whenever I asked a reasonable question.
“Are you certain?”
“I have company expense records. The penthouse lease, furniture, jewelry, vacations. Some of it was charged through corporate accounts.”