Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN HIRED TO REPLACE ME
Natalie Price refused to speak over the phone after that.
She wanted a public place.
Cameras.
People.
And a promise that I would not tell Daniel where we met.
Those conditions told me everything I needed to know about how frightened she was.
We met at a crowded café near Cherry Creek at noon.
Natalie was thirty-something, pale, and so nervous she checked the entrance every few seconds.
“Ava hired me two years ago,” she said.
“To do what?”
“She was building a consulting business. At least that’s what she called it.”
“Monroe Strategic Solutions?”
Natalie gave a bitter laugh.
“That company exists mostly on paper.”
“What did Ava actually do?”
“She found vulnerable businesses.”
I frowned.
“Vulnerable how?”
“Founders fighting. Executives having affairs. Companies preparing for funding rounds. She got close to someone with power and learned where the cracks were.”
“You’re saying she blackmailed people?”
“I’m saying she knew how to turn secrets into leverage.”
My throat tightened.
“And Meridian?”
Natalie reached into her bag and slid a flash drive toward me.
“Ava talked about Meridian before she ever worked there.”
“How long before?”
“Almost a year.”
That made no sense.
Daniel claimed he had met Ava through an executive recruiting firm eight months ago.
Natalie continued.
“She knew your name. She knew you were COO. She knew Daniel was your husband. She had copies of interviews you’d given and company filings going back years.”
“Why me?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said she was hired to make sure I left.”
Natalie looked down.
“Those were her words.”
“Who hired her?”
“I never knew.”
I stared at the flash drive.
“What’s on this?”
“Emails. Screenshots. Voice notes. Things I saved before I quit.”
“Why did you quit?”
Natalie looked toward the window.
“Because Ava asked me to falsify an invoice.”
“Meridian?”
“No. Another company.”
She swallowed.
“When I refused, she told me she knew where my daughter went to school.”
A cold anger settled over me.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. Just stop her.”
Back at Rachel’s, I opened the drive on an offline laptop.
The files were devastating.
Ava’s notes described executives by vulnerabilities.
Alcohol.
Debt.
Affairs.
Family disputes.
Ego.
Then I found a folder labeled MRS.
Meridian Route Systems.
Inside were dozens of screenshots.
Organizational charts.
Daniel’s travel schedule.
My speaking engagements.
Even photographs taken outside our house.
One note was dated eleven months earlier.
Primary objective remains separation of C.R. from operational control.
C.R.
Charlotte Reeves.
Another note read:
D.R. highly responsive to admiration. Increasing dependency should be straightforward.
D.R.
Daniel Reeves.
I should have felt vindicated.
Instead, I felt sick.
If Ava had manipulated Daniel, it did not erase his choices.
He had still belittled me.
Still pushed me out of meetings.
Still approved my pay cut.
Still lied.
Manipulation could explain weakness.
It could not excuse betrayal.
Then I opened an audio file.
Ava’s voice filled the room.
“He’s almost there. Charlotte’s exhausted, suspicious, and emotionally isolated. Another few months and she’ll either resign or make herself look unstable.”
A man answered.
His voice was electronically distorted.
“And Daniel?”
“Daniel thinks every idea is his own.”
“What about the founder clause?”
Ava paused.
“I’m working on it.”
The recording ended.
My skin prickled.
The founder clause.
Ava knew about a legal provision buried in documents most senior executives had never seen.
Someone had given it to her.
Benjamin called me that afternoon.
“I’ve reviewed the invoices,” he said. “You have enough to request an emergency board inquiry.”
“Can Daniel stop it?”
“He can try.”
“Then do it.”
“Charlotte, once we start this, your marriage becomes secondary.”
“It already is.”
By four, the board had received a formal notice.
At 4:19, Daniel called eleven times.
At 4:31, he showed up at Rachel’s house.
I saw his car through the window.
Rachel’s husband, Mark, moved toward the door.
“I’ll handle him.”
“No.”
I stepped outside.
Daniel stood on the sidewalk in shirtsleeves, furious.
“What the hell did you do?”
“I requested an investigation.”
“You humiliated me in front of the board.”
“You used my initials on financial approvals.”
“I did not.”
“Then somebody did.”
His anger flickered.
“You’re being manipulated.”
“By whom?”
He hesitated.
“Ava says someone is trying to destroy the company.”
I almost laughed.
“Of course Ava says that.”
“She has evidence.”
“Then bring it to the board.”
“Charlotte, withdraw the complaint.”
“No.”
His voice dropped.
“You have no idea what you’re risking.”
“Then tell me.”
He stepped closer.
For the first time, he looked less angry than terrified.
“Ava didn’t come to Meridian because of me.”
“I know.”
His face changed.
“How?”
“I know she was targeting me before she met you.”
Daniel stared at me.
Then he said something I didn’t expect.
“So you found Natalie.”
My heart stopped.
“You knew about Natalie?”
Daniel looked away.
And in that single movement, I understood he had been keeping more secrets than I imagined.
“You knew,” I whispered.
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“Charlotte, there are things I haven’t told you because I was trying to protect you.”
“From Ava?”
“No.”
He looked at me again.
“From the person paying her.”
“Who?”
May you like
Daniel’s answer came quietly.
“Your father.”
