Robert stepped closer to the gate. “You sold our house.”
“I sold my house.”
“You had no right!”
That almost made me smile. “No right? Robert, you married another woman while your legal wife was alive. You posted it on Instagram. You spent from accounts I funded. You planned to use a pregnant employee as proof that I was unstable. And now you want to discuss rights?”
Tiffany turned sharply. “Employee?”
I paused. So he had not told her that either.
“She worked under me in the marketing division,” I said. “Robert transferred her to vendor coordination six months ago. He said she needed ‘growth exposure.’”
Tiffany’s eyes filled with something like shame. Or realization. “I resigned,” she whispered.
“No,” I said. “Your resignation was never submitted. You were kept on payroll through a consultant code.”
She looked at Robert. “You said Audrey forced you to remove me.”
Robert’s face hardened. “Not now.”
Tiffany stepped back. “You lied to me too?”
His mother seized her wrist. “You are carrying our child. Stand properly.”
Tiffany pulled free. “Don’t touch me.”
For one second, I saw her clearly. Not the mistress in bridal white. Not the woman in the photograph. A younger woman, pregnant, frightened, slowly understanding that the family calling her blessed had not made space for her. They had made use of her.
Robert pointed at the camera. “You think you are smart? Fine. Keep the bungalow money. But don’t forget, half my life was spent with you. I know everything about you. Your company. Your clients. Your weaknesses.”
“No,” I said softly. “You knew the woman who loved you. She gave you access. She is gone.”
His jaw tightened.
I continued, “And because she is gone, you should know something. The forensic audit started this morning.”
He went very still. My mother-in-law whispered, “Robert…”
“What audit?” Tiffany asked.
I could hear the ocean outside my hotel window. Calm. Vast. Indifferent.
“The audit of Miller Imports,” I said. “The company Robert built using my capital, my contacts, and my personal guarantees. The one he told everyone was his.”
Robert’s voice dropped. “Audrey, don’t.”
There it was. Not anger now. Begging hidden under a threat.
“You should have said that before your second wedding cake,” I replied.
Arthur’s phone buzzed. He glanced down, then looked at the road behind Robert. A police cruiser turned into the lane. Behind it came another car. Mr. Vance’s car.
Robert saw them and stepped back. “What is this?”
“Protection,” I said. “For me. For the property. And perhaps for Tiffany, if she is willing to stop lying for people who will sacrifice her the moment she becomes inconvenient.”
Tiffany looked at the camera, her lips trembling. “What do you mean?”
