Chương 3
"Mrs. Prescott."
I nodded.
"Can you contact legal?"
His expression changed.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
People in powerful companies learned to read small changes.
"Is there a problem?"
"No."
I looked at the elevators.
"There will be."
The legal department was on the thirty-second floor.
Aaron had built his company around speed.
He hated waiting.
He hated uncertainty.
He hated situations where he was not controlling the outcome.
That was why I knew exactly where to begin.
Not with anger.
Not with revenge.
With facts.
The receptionist outside the legal department recognized me and immediately stood.
"Mrs. Prescott."
"I need to speak with Daniel Mercer."
Her eyes moved briefly toward the conference rooms.
"He's in a meeting."
"Tell him it's about the Prescott Group ownership structure."
That changed everything.
Within thirty seconds, the door opened.
Daniel Mercer was Aaron's longtime general counsel.
He was not a friend.
He was not loyal to me.
He was loyal to documents.
That was why I respected him.
He stepped into the hallway and studied my face.
Something in his expression told me he already knew something was wrong.
"Is Aaron okay?"
The question surprised me.
Not because he cared.
Because everyone always asked about Aaron first.
"He is on the plane."
Daniel frowned.
"Then why are you here?"
I handed him the folder I had carried with me.
He did not open it immediately.
He looked at the cover.
Then he looked at me.
"Where did you get this?"
"I created it."
His expression became more serious.
"Alyssa."
"I need you to review the documents before Aaron does."
Daniel slowly opened the folder.
The first page was a copy of the original funding agreement from seven years earlier.
The one that had saved the company.
The one Aaron had always described publicly as his first major investment round.
Daniel flipped through the pages.
His face changed with every section.
"Where have these been?"
"In my private records."
"Why?"
I looked through the glass wall toward the city below.
Because answering that question meant admitting something painful.
Because I had spent years protecting a man who had forgotten I existed.
Because I had confused loyalty with disappearing.
"I wanted to believe I would never need them."
Daniel closed the folder.
"Does Aaron know?"
"No."
"Does anyone?"
I shook my head.
"No."
For a few seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then Daniel placed the folder carefully on the table.
"What happened today?"
I almost told him.
I almost described the seat.
The orange.
The secretary.
The way Aaron looked at me like I was an inconvenience.
But somehow, those details felt smaller now.
The seat was only the final crack.
The damage had started years before.
"I realized my husband doesn't remember what belongs to him."
Daniel watched me carefully.
"And what does belong to him?"
I looked at the folder.
"The company he built."
A pause.
"And what belongs to you?"
I did not answer immediately.
That was the question I had avoided longer than any other.
Not what Aaron owed me.
Not what I could take back.
What belonged to me.
"My future," I finally said.
Daniel nodded slowly.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
The name on it made the room colder.
Aaron Prescott.
Daniel did not answer.
The call ended.
Three seconds later, it rang again.
This time, Daniel looked at me.
"He knows you're here."
I picked up my bag.
"Good."
Daniel hesitated.
"Alyssa, whatever you're planning, be careful."
I looked at him.
"Daniel."
"Yes?"
"I spent four years being careful."
The phone stopped ringing.
Then a message appeared on Daniel's screen.
He read it silently.
His face tightened.
"What did he say?" I asked.
Daniel turned the phone toward me.
The message was short.
Where is she?
I stared at those three words.
Not an apology.
Not an explanation.
Not a question about whether I was okay.
Only a demand for my location.
A small smile appeared before I could stop it.
Because finally, after years of wondering whether Aaron would notice if I disappeared, I had my answer.
He noticed.
Just not for the reason I once hoped.
I handed the phone back.
"Tell him I'm exactly where I need to be."
The message remained on Daniel's phone for several seconds after I finished speaking.
He did not immediately put it away.
He simply stared at the screen, as if trying to decide whether the woman standing in front of him was the same person he had watched quietly support Aaron for years.
Maybe that was the strangest part of all.
Nobody had ever seen me as someone capable of leaving.
They had seen me as someone capable of enduring.
There was a difference.
"I need to understand something," Daniel said.
His voice was careful.
"What exactly are you asking me to review?"
I walked back toward the conference room.
"Everything related to ownership."
He followed.
"That is a very broad answer."
"It is supposed to be."
Daniel closed the door behind us.
The glass walls made the room feel exposed even when nobody else was inside.
Employees moved through the hallway outside, carrying laptops and coffee cups, living normal workdays inside a company built on a history most of them did not know.
"Did Aaron transfer anything recently?" I asked.
Daniel paused.
"Why?"
"Because I want to know whether he believes he can."
The question bothered him.
I could see it.
Daniel was not the kind of lawyer who panicked easily.
He had handled acquisitions, lawsuits, investor disputes, and hostile negotiations.
But this was different.
This involved the founder.
The person whose name was carved into the building.
"The company has had restructuring discussions," he said.
"That is normal."
"Restructuring discussions with who?"
He looked away for a moment.
"Potential strategic partners."
"Names."
"Alyssa."
"Daniel."
The way I said his name made him stop.
Not because I was threatening him.
May you like
Because I was no longer asking as Aaron's wife.
I was asking as someone who had finally remembered she had authority.
