I waited until August returned home at midnight, the scent of expensive perfume clinging to his clothes like evidence. He found me in his office, the financial documents spread across his mahogany desk like a war map.
"Serenity?" His voice carried surprise, then irritation. "What are you doing in here? It's late."
I held up the bank statements, my hands steady despite the fury coursing through my veins. "Two point three million dollars, August. Transferred to something called Bella's Art Emporium over the past eight months."
His face went pale, then flushed red. For a moment, I thought I might see remorse, or at least shame. Instead, he straightened his shoulders and walked to his bar cart, pouring himself a scotch with deliberate calm.
"I don't know what you think you've discovered, but—"
"I know about the hotel room. Room 412 at the Grandview." My voice cut through his deflection like a blade. "I know about the Cartier bracelet, the vintage wine, the lingerie charges on our credit card. I know about Bella James."
August took a long sip of his drink, studying me over the rim of his glass. When he set it down, something had shifted in his expression—the mask of the loving husband finally slipping away.
"So you know." He shrugged, as if we were discussing the weather. "What exactly do you want me to say, Serenity? That I'm sorry? That it was a mistake?"
The casual cruelty in his tone hit me like a physical blow. "I want you to explain why you've been stealing from our company to fund your affair."
"Our company?" August laughed, a harsh sound that echoed off the office walls. "This is my company. I built this empire with my own hands, my own vision. You've done nothing but play housewife for ten years."
I stood slowly, the financial documents crackling in my grip. "I've done nothing? August, I've been your silent partner in everything. The connections that got you your first major client, the strategies that saved us during the recession, the—"
"You've been a wife meddling in business matters she doesn't understand." His voice rose, scotch sloshing in his glass as he gestured dismissively. "Do you have any idea what it's like being married to someone so... ordinary? So boring? Bella appreciates what I've accomplished. She sees my potential."
Each word was a knife twist, but I kept my expression neutral. "Your potential? Built on embezzled funds and lies?"
"I took what I deserved." August's eyes glittered with a dangerous light. "And frankly, I'm tired of pretending this marriage means anything to me. Bella and I have been planning our future together. A future where I'm not dragged down by a wife who brings nothing to the table."
The room seemed to tilt around me. Ten years of marriage, reduced to nothing in his mind. Ten years of sacrifice, dismissed as worthless.
"You want a divorce?" I asked quietly.
"I want my freedom." He moved closer, his confidence growing with each word. "And don't think you can take me for everything in some vindictive settlement. I've been documenting your... instability. Your jealousy, your paranoia about my business dealings. Any judge will see you're an unfit partner."
My breath caught. "Instability?"
"The way you've been acting lately, questioning my every move, going through my things." August's smile was predatory now. "I'll get half of everything, including the company's core technology patents. The algorithms, the client databases, the proprietary software—all of it was developed under my leadership."
He leaned against his desk, supremely confident. "You see, darling, I built this empire with my own hands. Every patent, every innovation, every breakthrough—that's my genius at work. You contributed nothing of value to our success. Nothing at all."
The silence stretched between us, heavy with the weight of his betrayal. August finished his scotch, apparently satisfied that he'd crushed any resistance I might have offered.
"I suggest you start looking for a good lawyer," he said, moving toward the door. "Though I doubt you'll find one willing to take on a case you can't possibly win."
As he left me alone in the office surrounded by the evidence of his crimes, I felt something cold and sharp crystallizing in my chest. August thought he knew exactly who he was dealing with—the ordinary, boring wife who had contributed nothing of value.
Tomorrow, I would remind him that he had never truly known me at all.
I picked up my phone and scrolled to a number I hadn't called in years. It was time to visit my father.
