Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO THOUGHT I WAS TEMPORARY
Margaret came to my house before Ethan did.
That told me everything about the Sterling family hierarchy.
She entered without waiting to be invited.
“Where is Ethan?”
I asked.
“Trying to clean up the mess you created.”
I almost admired the confidence.
“You mean the forged signature?”
Her expression barely changed.
“Chloe made an administrative mistake.”
“An administrative mistake?”
“You’ve always been dramatic about ownership.”
I stared at her.
“My family invested one and a half billion dollars.”
“And Ethan turned it into twelve.”
There it was.
The mythology.
Ethan the genius.
Ethan the billionaire.
Ethan the man who had built everything alone while his wife quietly supplied oxygen during the fire.
Margaret removed her gloves.
“Sterling Dynamics cannot remain tied forever to your family’s conditions.”
“Then repay the investment and renegotiate the patents.”
“You know it isn’t that simple.”
“No. It actually is.”
Her mouth tightened.
“You enjoy holding those patents over Ethan.”
I laughed.
“I haven’t mentioned them in four years.”
“You never needed to.”
That surprised me.
Margaret stepped closer.
“The entire company knows you can pull the floor out whenever you want.”
“So your solution was to forge my signature?”
“I did not forge anything.”
“Your account tried deleting files from Chloe’s computer.”
For the first time, Margaret lost color.
Only slightly.
Enough.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Then your password security is terrible.”
She picked up her handbag.
“Be careful, Clara.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s advice.”
She turned toward the door.
I stopped her.
“What is Northstar Innovation Partners?”
Her back stiffened.
I had my answer.
“You know.”
Margaret faced me again.
“It’s a vehicle designed to protect Sterling’s future.”
“From whom?”
She looked directly at me.
“You.”
Something cold settled inside my chest.
Margaret had never liked my independence.
She liked my money.
My contacts.
My name.
But she had always treated my actual influence as something indecent.
“Ethan knows?”
“He understands the company needs freedom.”
“Freedom from the woman who saved it?”
“Freedom from a marriage that became a financing arrangement.”
That one landed.
Maybe because some part of me had feared Ethan believed it too.
Margaret left.
Ethan arrived thirty minutes later.
He looked exhausted.
Angry.
And, for the first time, uncertain.
“What did you do?” he demanded.
“Interesting opening.”
“The trust lawyers contacted our board.”
“They contacted them because someone forged my signature.”
“I didn’t know about that.”
“But you knew about Northstar.”
“Yes.”
“You knew your mother owned part of it.”
He stopped.
That was new information.
I saw it immediately.
“No.”
For the first time all day, Ethan looked truly alarmed.
I showed him the ownership records.
He read them twice.
Then sat down.
“Chloe told me Northstar was institutionally controlled.”
“Chloe told you.”
“Yes.”
I looked at my husband.
The celebrated billionaire.
The brilliant strategist.
The man who had apparently outsourced critical due diligence to the secretary sitting in his wife’s seat.
“Did you read what you signed?”
His silence was answer enough.
Then Ethan whispered, “There’s something you need to know about Chloe.”
I waited.
He looked ashamed.
“Two months ago, she kissed me.”
My wedding ring suddenly felt very heavy.
May you like
“And what did you do?”
Ethan did not answer quickly enough.
