Chapter 12 - I Stopped Asking for Revenge
When Sloan told me how aggressively we could proceed, I surprised both of us.
“I don’t want to destroy him.”
She studied me.
“Are you sure?”
“I want to separate my life from his.”
Those were different goals.
I wanted the unauthorized debt removed from my name.
I wanted reimbursement for marital money spent on the affair.
I wanted full recognition of the shares created from my $75,000 contribution.
I wanted a fair division of everything else.
I did not want his apartment.
His watch.
His reputation.
His misery.
For three months, Thain’s choices controlled my emotions.
I refused to let his consequences control the next three years.
Negotiations lasted six weeks.
They were ugly.
Then they became practical.
The Ravelin lender accepted evidence that my signature had been unauthorized and released me from personal responsibility while pursuing other remedies.
Cynthia transferred the shares she had held for me into an account controlled during settlement.
Thain agreed to repay certain misused marital funds from his eventual company proceeds.
The affair spending was documented down to the last ridiculous dinner.
The Pilates argument came back to me several times.
I laughed every time.
One afternoon, Daniel placed the final accounting in front of me.
“You were right to keep records.”
“I wish I hadn’t needed them.”
“So does everyone who ever walks into my office.”
Then came the company issue.
Marcus’s fund proposed a recapitalization.
New money.
New oversight.
A smaller stake for Thain.
The board would retain him only in a technical and product role.
He would no longer be CEO.
The man whose identity had become inseparable from being a famous founder was about to lose the title he had nearly sacrificed our marriage to protect.
I expected to feel satisfaction.
Instead, I felt tired.
Then Sloan entered carrying one final document discovered during settlement disclosure.
It wasn’t financial.
It was a letter.
Written by Thain.
Never sent.
Dated thirty-eight days before I left.
May you like
The first line read:
Kala, I think I am becoming someone you will eventually hate.
