Chapter 6 - The Woman Derek Tried to Make Me Fire

I didn't sleep that night.

Mostly because I never went home.

Within twenty minutes of Arthur's confession, Lena moved me upstairs to a hotel suite registered under her name. Ethan stayed outside the door. My parents contacted corporate counsel. Copies of everything went to three separate attorneys.

Derek wasn't allowed near me.

That was my decision.

He called seventeen times.

I answered none.

At 2:13 a.m., Lena finally sat beside me on the carpet.

My wedding dress had been replaced by gray hotel sweatpants and one of Ethan's oversized college shirts.

"There is something I should have told you months ago," she said.

I looked at her.

"Tonight seems popular for that."

She almost smiled.

Then her face became serious.

"Derek tried to get you to fire me."

I remembered.

Six months earlier, he told me Lena was "too involved" in my private life.

He accused her of undermining our relationship.

At the time, I defended her.

But I thought it was jealousy.

"Why?"

"Because I saw him with Colin."

My stomach tightened.

"When?"

"Last spring."

That was almost a year before the wedding.

Lena had attended an investor conference in New York.

She saw Derek entering a private restaurant with Colin Vance and Patricia.

Derek later claimed he had never met Colin.

Another lie.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I did."

"No, you didn't."

"I sent you a message."

I stared at her.

"What message?"

She opened her phone.

There it was.

A screenshot from seven months earlier.

LENA: Claire, call me. I saw Derek with Colin Vance and Patricia. Something feels wrong.

My reply appeared beneath it.

CLAIRE: Stop trying to interfere. Derek explained everything. Stay out of my relationship.

I felt dizzy.

"I never sent that."

"I know."

"How?"

"Because the next morning you asked why I was acting weird."

I looked at the screen.

Derek knew my passcode.

Back then, he called it intimacy.

He could have deleted Lena's original message and replied himself.

I remembered something else.

That same night, Derek had taken my phone to "charge it."

He kept it until morning.

I closed my eyes.

"God."

Lena touched my arm.

"He isolated you gradually."

"I let him."

"No."

I looked at her.

She didn't give me some comforting speech.

She simply said:

"He worked at it."

That distinction mattered.

At 3:00 a.m., my attorney called.

The prenup was valid.

Derek had signed voluntarily with independent counsel.

The conduct clause contained broad protections triggered by documented financial fraud, coercive control, or intentional physical misconduct.

Tonight had potentially activated all three.

More importantly, the fraudulent transfer could be frozen before markets opened Monday.

"Can Derek touch my shares?"

"No."

I finally exhaled.

Then my attorney said:

"But Claire, we found something unusual."

Of course they had.

"What?"

"CD Marital Holdings wasn't created by Derek."

I sat upright.

"Then who created it?"

"Patricia's attorney filed the initial formation documents."

That fit.

But my attorney continued.

"Derek isn't listed as the controlling manager."

"Who is?"

A pause.

"You are."

I frowned.

"That makes no sense."

"It does if someone intended to forge your control while operating behind you."

Lena looked at me.

I put the call on speaker.

My attorney continued.

"And there's something else. The LLC wasn't created eighteen months ago when you and Derek became serious."

"When was it created?"

"Four years ago."

My skin prickled.

I hadn't met Derek four years ago.

"Who knew I owned the Mercer shares back then?"

"Anyone who followed the company's filings."

That wasn't the frightening part.

The frightening part was the date.

Four years ago, Mercer Biomedical had survived a hostile takeover attempt.

The buyer?

Colin Vance.

I whispered:

"This didn't start with Derek."

My attorney answered:

"No."

Then he told me the detail that made Lena and me stare at each other.

The registered contact on the original CD Marital Holdings paperwork was not Patricia Hale.

It was someone inside my own company.

Someone who had authorized the takeover attempt four years ago.

My father's oldest business partner.

Thomas Reed.

The man scheduled to walk me down the aisle if my father became too emotional.

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