Chapter 12 - LILA STOPPED BELIEVING HIM
Lila read the prenup at Julia’s office.
Really read it.
Maybe for the first time.
Her face changed line by line.
Camden had promised marriage.
Security.
A home.
A future.
But the document gave her almost nothing.
No equity in the apartment.
No interest in Northstar.
No claim to Hawthorne Ridge.
Limited support.
Confidentiality.
Strict non-disparagement.
And one clause requiring her to vacate any Northstar-controlled residence within thirty days of separation.
“You didn’t know?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“He said it protected the baby.”
“It protects Camden.”
Her eyes filled.
I did not enjoy it.
That surprised me.
Months earlier, I imagined confronting the mistress.
I imagined satisfaction.
Reality was uglier.
Lila had been cruel in the hangar.
She knew Camden was married.
She wore my things.
Used my cars.
Posted my life online.
She was not innocent.
But she had also been lied to.
Used.
Promised ownership over things Camden himself did not own.
Two women can both be wronged without becoming equal victims.
That mattered.
“I’m sorry about the scarf,” she said.
I almost laughed.
“Lila.”
“I know it sounds stupid.”
“It does.”
She looked down.
“He told me you gave it to charity.”
I stared.
Of all his lies, that one was almost funny.
“I did not.”
“I know.”
Silence.
Then she said:
“He told me you didn’t want children.”
My expression changed.
Camden and I had tried for four years.
Two failed IVF cycles.
One miscarriage at eleven weeks.
We stopped because grief was destroying me.
He told Lila I had chosen career over family.
I felt something in me harden permanently.
“Did he tell you why?”
“He said you thought motherhood would interfere with the company.”
I stood.
Nora caught my hand.
Just once.
Enough.
I sat again.
Lila understood.
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop saying that.”
She nodded.
Then she opened another folder.
“I have messages.”
Camden discussing the acquisition.
Northstar.
Richard.
Board votes.
Not because he told her everything.
Because she had started taking screenshots after he became secretive.
Smart.
Late.
But smart.
One message stood out.
Richard:
Once Pierce Aero is inside Northstar, Vivian loses direct leverage.
Camden:
Then we move on Meridian Aviation Services.
Richard:
And if she fights?
Camden:
By then, she’ll be too busy with the divorce.
I read it twice.
The affair had not merely run alongside the corporate plan.
It was part of the timing.
He believed emotional chaos would distract me while he moved assets.
That hurt more than Lila ever could.
Then another message.
Camden to Richard:
Lila keeps asking about ownership. Keep her away from numbers.
Lila looked sick.
He had a compartment for everyone.
Me: source of access.
Richard: partner.
Evelyn: legitimacy.
Lila: distraction and lifestyle.
Daniel: manipulated forecasts.
Arthur: board support.
Nobody got the whole truth.
Then Lila quietly said:
“There’s something else.”
Of course.
She placed her phone on the table.
A photograph of a document.
Title:
SUCCESSION MEMORANDUM.
If Camden gained control of Pierce Aero and Meridian Aviation Services, he planned to rename the consolidated entity.
PIERCE GLOBAL.
Not Alden.
Not Meridian.
Pierce.
He wasn’t trying to build beside my family legacy.
He was trying to erase it.
At the bottom of the memo was a line:
Phase Three begins after Vivian exits public leadership.
I looked at Julia.
“Phase Three?”
Nobody knew.
May you like
But Richard did.
And by then, Richard had stopped answering his attorney.
