I called Rachel Holt at seven in the morning. She answered on the first ring.
"Miss Castillo," she said. Her voice was sharp and awake. She'd been expecting this call for years.
"I need divorce papers," I said. "Breach-of-contract notifications. A full IP audit of everything Cole's company used that came from Castillo Industries."
Silence. Then: "I'll have everything ready by noon."
"Thank you."
I hung up. My hands were steady. The apartment was quiet. Cole and Lilly had left an hour ago—together, in his car, like they'd done it a thousand times. I stood at the window and looked at the city waking up below. The sky was gray. It looked like rain.
Rachel sent the documents at eleven-thirty. I sat at the dining table and read every page. Breach-of-contract penalties. IP ownership records. The names of all fifteen engineers Henderson had embedded in Cole's company five years ago. The clause that allowed Castillo Industries to reassign them without notice.
I signed the divorce papers first. My signature looked different than it had five years ago. Sharper. I set them in a manila folder and placed the folder in my bag.
Then I got dressed. Black suit. Low heels. No jewelry except my mother's wedding band, which I wore on my right hand now. The ring Cole gave me stayed on the nightstand.
I drove to Cole's building. The lobby was all glass and steel, designed to look expensive. I'd chosen the architect. Cole didn't know that. He thought he'd done it himself.
I took the elevator to the tenth floor. The doors opened onto the open-plan office. Rows of desks. Glass-walled conference rooms. Cole's office at the far end, windows overlooking the city. I stepped out. Heads turned.
Lilly saw me first. She was at her desk near Cole's office. Her bandaged hand rested on a stack of files. She stood up fast, her chair scraping the floor.
"Mrs. Barnes," she said. Her voice was loud. Shaking. "Please. I'm begging you. Stop threatening me."
I stopped walking. Every head in the office turned toward us.
Lilly pressed her good hand to her chest. Her eyes filled with tears. "I'm so scared," she whispered. But it wasn't a whisper. It carried across the whole floor.
Someone laughed. A man at a desk near the windows. Another voice, quieter: "That's the CEO's clingy, jealous housewife."
"Pathetic," someone else muttered.
I didn't look at them. I looked at Lilly. Her face was a mask of fear. Her eyes were bright with something else.
Cole's office door slammed open. He came out fast, his face twisted. He didn't look at me like I was his wife. He looked at me like I was something he needed to remove.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he said.
I held up the folder. "You asked for these documents last week."
"I don't care." He walked toward me. His footsteps were too loud. "You're humiliating yourself. You have no right to be here."
I stood very still. "I brought what you asked for."
He stopped three feet away. His jaw was tight. His hands were fists. "You're nothing," he said. Loud enough for everyone to hear. "You're nothing but a glorified housekeeper who couldn't even keep a house properly."
The room went quiet. I heard someone's phone buzz. A chair creaked.
Then Cole's hand came up fast. The slap cracked across my cheek like a gunshot. My head snapped to the side. Pain bloomed hot and sharp. I tasted blood.
No one moved. No one spoke.
Cole grabbed my arm. His fingers dug in hard enough to bruise. He forced me down. My knees hit the floor. The impact shot up my spine.
"Apologize," he said. His voice was shaking. "To Lilly. To my team. And get the hell out of my building."
I looked up at him. At the man I'd knelt in the rain for. At the man whose empire I'd built with my own hands.
Behind him, Lilly watched. Her mouth was soft with fake concern. Her eyes were bright with triumph.
Then I heard footsteps. Slow. Steady. Coming from the engineering section.
Henderson walked across the floor like he had all the time in the world. He stopped beside me. He didn't look at Cole. He looked at me. Then he held out his hand.
I took it. He pulled me to my feet. Gently. Like I was something that mattered.
Then he turned to face the room.
"Effective immediately," Henderson said, "the entire core engineering team—fifteen personnel—is resigning."
Cole's face went white.
Henderson kept talking. His voice was quiet. Final. "Our contracts contain a Castillo Industries reassignment clause that supersedes any non-compete with this company. Mr. Barnes's company no longer possesses the technical capability to fulfill any of its existing contracts."
He placed a sealed envelope on the nearest desk. It slid across the surface and stopped in front of Cole.
"Breach-of-contract notifications," Henderson said. "I suggest you consult a lawyer immediately."
The room was silent. Cole stared at the envelope like it was a bomb.
I reached into my bag and pulled out the manila folder. I set it on the desk next to the envelope.
"Divorce papers," I said quietly. "Sign them."
Then I turned and walked toward the elevator. Henderson followed. Behind us, I heard Lilly's voice—high, confused, starting to panic.
I didn't look back.
The elevator doors closed. My reflection stared back at me from the polished steel. My cheek was red. My eyes were dry.
"Your father is downstairs," Henderson said.
I nodded. I pressed my thumb against my ring finger one last time.
Then I let go.
