Chapter 6 - THE DAY I STOPPED LETTING HIM TAKE
We filed three motions in forty-eight hours.
One challenged the forged share transfer.
One challenged the apartment conveyance.
One froze Ryan from using disputed property as collateral.
The third made him furious.
He appeared at my apartment unannounced.
I opened the door but left the chain attached.
He looked expensive.
Tailored coat.
Luxury watch.
Perfect hair.
Exactly like the man who had walked out of our divorce meeting.
Except his eyes were different.
Tired.
“You’re suing me.”
“You forged my signature.”
“I did not.”
“Great. Then court should be easy.”
His jaw tightened.
“Claire, think about what you’re doing.”
“I have been.”
“You could destroy the company.”
“The company I helped build?”
“You left.”
I laughed.
“You divorced me.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“No?”
He lowered his voice.
“Savannah says Mercer is using you.”
There it was.
The same tactic.
Make my independence another man’s manipulation.
“Elias pays me.”
“So did I.”
“No.”
I looked directly at him.
“You benefited from me.”
That landed.
From inside the apartment, Noah cried.
Ryan’s face shifted.
He looked past me.
“Is that…”
“Your son.”
He swallowed.
For one terrible second, I saw something human.
Regret.
Fear.
Maybe love buried beneath ego.
“Can I see them?”
My hand tightened on the door.
“Why?”
He flinched.
“Because they’re mine.”
“Three months ago, you demanded DNA tests.”
“I was angry.”
“You filed papers denying responsibility before they were born.”
“I made mistakes.”
“Are you asking to have a relationship with them?”
Silence.
That was enough.
“You want to see what you lost,” I said. “That’s different.”
His expression hardened again.
“You’re turning them against me.”
“They can’t hold their own heads up yet.”
He looked almost ashamed.
Then anger rescued him from the feeling.
“Mercer won’t keep protecting you forever.”
“I’m not asking him to.”
“You think he wants you?”
The cruelty was so juvenile I almost laughed.
“You’re pregnant, divorced, three babies—”
“I’m not pregnant anymore.”
He blinked.
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes.”
I did.
He wanted me to feel undesirable.
Reduced.
Grateful for scraps.
The old Claire might have.
The new one closed the door.
“Goodbye, Ryan.”
Before I shut it, he said:
“The gala is in June.”
I paused.
“I remember.”
“When this company survives, you’ll understand you chose the wrong side.”
I almost smiled.
“There aren’t sides anymore.”
Then I closed the door.
Two months later, the court issued a preliminary ruling.
The share transfer was likely forged.
My thirty-one-percent interest was temporarily restored pending trial.
The Brooklyn apartment transfer was frozen.
Ryan was prohibited from pledging it.
For the first time, he could not move my property like a piece on his board.
That same week, I returned to Mercer Capital in person.
Three babies.
One nanny I paid myself.
Two pumps in my office refrigerator.
A calendar organized in twelve-minute increments.
It was chaos.
I loved it.
Elias promoted me to Managing Director of Development Strategy.
I refused at first.
“I’ve worked here four months.”
“You’ve generated more useful analysis in four months than half the people with vice-president titles generate in four years.”
“That sounded almost complimentary.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
We were becoming friends.
Something more hovered at the edges.
Neither of us touched it.
I was not ready.
He never pushed.
Then Savannah appeared in the news alone.
She and Ryan had “taken space.”
Translation:
The money was disappearing.
A week later, she called me.
I almost ignored it.
Curiosity won.
“What do you want?”
Her voice sounded nothing like social media.
No performance.
Just nervous.
“You need to know something about Ryan.”
“I know plenty.”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“You don’t.”
I sat straighter.
“What?”
“The gala isn’t just about investors.”
“What is it?”
“He’s planning to announce a merger.”
“With who?”
“I don’t know.”
She exhaled.
“But I heard him tell his attorney something.”
My skin tightened.
“What?”
“If the merger closes, your shares become worthless.”
I went still.
“Why are you telling me?”
Savannah laughed bitterly.
“Because apparently men who abandon pregnant wives eventually learn how to abandon girlfriends too.”
Not exactly noble.
Still useful.
Then she added one final thing.
“Claire…”
“Yes?”
“Ryan knows the court may restore your shares permanently.”
“I know.”
“He isn’t trying to beat you in court anymore.”
My chest tightened.
May you like
“What is he doing?”
“He’s trying to make sure there’s no company left for you to own.”
