Chapter 4 - The Midnight Ultimatum
The penthouse suite was silent, save for the gentle hum of the central air conditioning and the soft breathing of Leo fast asleep in his crib in the nursery. I stood by floor-to-ceiling glass windows, looking out over the glittering skyline of the city, holding a cup of herbal tea.
My phone buzzed again. Not a text this time, but a direct phone call from an unknown, encrypted number. I knew immediately who it was.
I swiped to answer and placed the phone to my ear without saying a word.
"Clara." Mark's voice didn't sound arrogant anymore. It was cracked, desperate, laced with panic and disbelief. "Clara, please. Let's talk. This... this is insane. You can't just destroy everything we built over a mistake."
"A mistake?" I echoed, my voice cutting through the speaker with surgical precision. "You called your affair a mistake? Or was it the part where you told me to play my role, keep my mouth shut, and accept it that was the mistake?"
"I was stressed! The product launch, the board meetings—Sarah was just... she was there, she didn't demand anything from me—" Mark stammered, completely digging his own grave.
"And now neither of us demands anything from you," I interrupted coldly. "Because you have nothing left."
"Clara, please! The board is holding an emergency meeting at dawn. Without the Sterling capital injection, NexusTech will be liquidated. Everything I’ve worked for for ten years will vanish. Our home, our status, my legacy—it's all gone!"
"Your legacy?" I let out a sharp, humorless laugh. "Mark, you were a junior programmer with a half-baked idea when my father’s fund picked you out of the gutter. I gave you the capital, I gave you the connections, and I gave you my loyalty. And you repaid me by bringing your mistress into our home on our son's first birthday."
There was a long, suffocating silence on the other end of the line.
"What do you want?" Mark whispered, his voice defeated. "Divorce? Fine. Alimony? Fine. Just... release the funds. Save the company."
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"No, Mark," I replied softly. "You wanted me to play my role and accept how things are going to be? Well, now you get to experience how things are going to be. Meet me at my attorney’s office tomorrow at 9:00 AM sharp. Bring signed papers relinquishing all parental custody rights to Leo, and sign over every remaining personal asset to my name. If you don't, I will personally ensure you spend the next ten years in federal court defending against corporate fraud charges."
Click. I hung up the phone.
