Chapter 3 of After His Mistress Framed Me, I Took Everything

The boardroom smelled like leather and old money. I stood in the doorway wearing the same black blouse I'd worn for three days. It was the only one that didn't pull against the scabs.

Hayden sat at the head of the table. Lacey beside him in a cream suit I recognized from the photos on his office wall back in Seattle. She looked perfect. Confident. The necklace—my necklace—caught the morning light.

Gideon Davis sat across from them.

I'd seen his photo in the contract files. It didn't prepare me. He was tall, still, contained. Dark suit. No jewelry. His hands were folded on the table in front of him. He didn't look up when I entered.

Hayden gestured to an empty chair at the far end. 'Evelyn. Sit.'

I sat.

Lacey slid a bound document across the table toward Gideon. 'As you'll see in the market analysis,' she said smoothly, 'we've projected a fifteen percent year-over-year growth in the Southeast Asian logistics corridor, accounting for both tariff volatility and infrastructure delays in—'

Gideon raised one hand. She stopped.

He opened the document. Flipped through it slowly. I recognized every page. Every chart. I'd written it in April. Spent sixty hours on the tariff models alone.

He stopped on page thirty-one. 'This projection assumes a three-month buffer for port congestion in Jakarta,' he said. His voice was quiet. Even. 'But your contingency model only allocates a two-week margin for customs delays. Why the discrepancy?'

Lacey blinked. 'Well, the… the buffer is built into the broader timeline, so—'

'Where?'

'I'm sorry?'

'Show me where in the broader timeline.' He turned the document toward her. 'Page number.'

She looked down. Her finger hovered over the page. 'It's integrated across several sections, so it's not in one specific—'

'It's on page eighteen,' I said.

Everyone turned.

I didn't look at Hayden. I looked at Gideon. 'The three-month buffer is on page eighteen, line forty-three. It's embedded in the shipping schedule, not the customs analysis. They're separate variables.'

Gideon's eyes stayed on me. 'And the reason for separating them?'

'Because port congestion is infrastructure. Customs is political. If you model them together, you lose flexibility when one shifts and the other doesn't.'

He nodded once. Then he closed the document and pushed it back across the table. He looked at Hayden.

'This proposal was written by Evelyn Shaw,' he said. 'I know her analytical signature. I've read her work for two years. Ms. Roberts didn't write this. And she doesn't understand it.'

Lacey's face went white. Then red.

Hayden opened his mouth. Nothing came out.

Gideon stood. 'Bring me the person who actually built your company, or this meeting is over permanently.'

He walked out.

The room was silent.

Then Hayden turned to me. His jaw was tight. 'Go upstairs. Change into something appropriate. Be back here in ten minutes.'

I didn't move.

'Now, Evelyn.'

I stood. Lacey's hand was pressed flat against the table. Her knuckles were white. I walked past her. She didn't look at me.

I went upstairs to the servants' room. I didn't have anything appropriate. I smoothed my blouse. Washed my face. Pulled my hair back.

When I came back down, Gideon was seated again. Hayden gestured to the chair beside him. Closer this time. I sat.

Gideon looked at me for a long moment. His expression didn't change. But something in his eyes did.

'Ms. Shaw,' he said. 'Walk me through page thirty-one.'

I did.

Then page thirty-two. Then the entire tariff model. Then the contingency structures. He asked questions. I answered. He asked follow-ups. I answered those too.

Hayden sat there. Silent. Lacey had left the room twenty minutes in.

The meeting ran three hours.

At the end, Gideon stood. He shook Hayden's hand briefly. Then he turned to me. His handshake was firm. Warm.

He leaned in. His voice was low enough that only I could hear.

'You don't have to stay here.'

Then he left.

That night, I lay in the narrow bed and stared at the ceiling. My back still hurt. My wrists were still raw. But something else was happening.

My phone buzzed.

A message. Unknown number.

*Whatever you want to build next, I will back it. No conditions. —GD*

Below it, a name and contact: *Victor Hale, Chief Legal Counsel, Davis Global.*

I read it three times.