I ended the Paris lace-sourcing trip three days early.
I didn't call my husband to tell him. I didn't text. I just wanted to surprise him.
The private manor sat in complete silence when I arrived at dusk. Shadows stretched long and dark across the hardwood floors of the main house.
"Kai?" I called out.
Nothing.
I walked toward the back of the house, dropping my keys on the kitchen counter. Through the large windows, a warm yellow light spilled across the lawn. It came from my exclusive bridal sample workshop in the backyard.
I stepped out the back door. My flats made no sound against the stone path.
At the edge of the patio, right outside the glass French doors of the workshop, sat a pair of shoes. Beige stilettos. Size six.
I wear a size eight.
The glass door was pushed open a few inches, letting the evening breeze inside. Voices drifted through the narrow gap.
I stopped. I pressed my shoulder against the brick wall and peered through the glass.
Kai leaned against my main cutting table. He held a woman in his arms. Serena. The owner of the downtown art gallery.
My eyes dropped to what Serena was wearing.
The Pearl Queen.
It was my unreleased, limited-edition wedding dress. Six months of my life spent hand-sewing thousands of freshwater pearls, now draped over Serena's shoulders.
On the table, right next to Serena’s hip, sat two empty wine glasses, a half-eaten box of chocolates, and a thick stack of hundred-dollar bills. The fabric sourcing cash I had authorized Kai to withdraw from the company account yesterday.
"It's heavy," Serena murmured. Her manicured fingers traced the intricate pearl neckline. "Did she really sew every single one of these?"
"Every last one," Kai said, pressing a kiss to her jaw. "Took her half a year. But it looks infinitely better on you."
"I’m keeping it." Serena ran her hands down the silk bodice. "It’s going to be the permanent centerpiece for the gallery."
"Whatever you want, babe."
Serena pushed him back slightly, her expression turning serious. "Speaking of the gallery. When are you getting your wife to transfer the lakefront villa? You promised me that property for my expansion, Kai."
Kai reached out, pulling her flush against him again. "Soon. You just need to be patient."
"I'm tired of being patient. I need the space."
"And you'll get it," Kai promised, his tone smooth. "We just have to wait for the next batch of fake high-end orders to clear. Once those payments hit the accounts, the funds will be completely liquid."
Serena raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure she won't find out? Elowen isn't stupid."
Kai laughed. A harsh, dismissive sound that made my stomach turn.
"She’s clueless," he said. "Her head is entirely in her designs. She doesn't look at the ledgers. I can balance all the books and make the money vanish without her suspecting a thing. She's so easy to manage."
"She doesn't even wear things like this," Serena said, admiring her reflection in the dark window. "She's always in those boring neutral suits."
"Elowen lacks vision," Kai agreed. "She's a workhorse. Good for sewing, bad for business."
"Then why are we waiting on the villa? Just make her sign it over."
"I need her completely oblivious until the fake orders clear. If I push too hard on the property now, she might actually look at the bank statements."
"And if she does?"
"She won't. I manage the accounts. I just pulled twenty grand in cash yesterday for 'fabric sourcing' and she didn't even blink."
"Is that the cash on the table?"
"Exactly. Just a little bonus for us."
I pulled my phone from my pocket. Swiped to the camera. Hit record.
I held the lens steady through the gap in the door. I captured Kai's hands sliding down her waist. I zoomed in on the stack of company cash sitting next to the chocolates. I recorded every single word of his confession about the fake orders and the cooked books.
My thumb tapped the red square to stop recording.
I didn't barge in. I didn't scream. I didn't demand answers.
I turned away from the light, walked back across the dark lawn, and got into my car.
I drove straight to a five-star hotel in the city center and checked into a corner suite.
For the next eight hours, I didn't sleep. I opened my laptop and pulled up every joint bank statement, every company ledger, and every supplier invoice from the last three years.
Kai thought I was just a designer. He forgot I built this brand from the ground up.
Line by line, the discrepancies appeared. Phantom fabric orders. Inflated marketing budgets. Cash withdrawals labeled as 'overseas sourcing.'
By dawn, my eyes burned, but the spreadsheet was complete. He had siphoned hundreds of thousands.
At exactly eight in the morning, I dialed my attorney.
"Sterling speaking," a crisp voice answered.
"It's Elowen. I need an emergency injunction."
Papers rustled over the line. "Good morning to you, too. I thought you were in Paris until Friday."
"I came back early. Found Kai with Serena."
"The gallery owner?"
"Yes. In my private workshop." I took a sip of cold hotel coffee. "She was wearing my unreleased masterwork. And Kai was explaining how he's faking high-end orders to embezzle company cash to buy her a villa."
Sterling went dead silent. "Tell me you have proof."
"I have a video. Audio is crystal clear. You can see the company cash sitting on the table next to them."
"An emergency injunction requires solid grounds," Sterling said. "Judges don't freeze marital assets just for infidelity."
"I'm not claiming infidelity for the freeze. I'm claiming corporate fraud."
"Explain."
"He's forging high-end custom orders to inflate the revenue sheets, then siphoning the actual cash out of the company to buy real estate for his mistress."
"And you can prove the forgery?"
"I spent the last nine hours cross-referencing our fabric imports with our client invoices. The materials he claims to be buying don't exist. The clients he's billing are shell companies. I have the entire ledger mapped out."
"Send it to me right now."
"It's already in your inbox," I said, hitting send on my laptop. "Along with the video."
"What do you want me to do?" Sterling asked. His tone had shifted to pure business.
"Freeze it all," I instructed. "Every joint account. Every credit card. The brand's operating liquidity. Lock him out of everything."
"A total freeze will halt his fake orders, Elowen. If he has suppliers expecting payment today, they'll bounce."
"That's exactly what I want." I closed my laptop. "I want him to try and buy Serena her villa with a declined card."
"Consider it done. I'll file the paperwork immediately. The freeze will be active by noon."
"Thank you, Sterling."
I ended the call and tossed the phone onto the bed.
Kai thought I was easy to manage. He thought my head was stuck in my sketches.
I walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the morning traffic crawl through the city streets below.
My phone buzzed on the mattress.
Kai’s name flashed across the screen.
He was waking up. And in a few short hours, his entire world was going to collapse.
