Chapter 5 - The Queen's Peace
David collapsed into a chair, burying his face in his hands. The arrogant man who had tapped the back of an empty chair and ordered me to disappear was completely, utterly erased.
"You can't do this, Carol," he wept, looking at me with pathetic, desperate eyes. "I have nothing else. Melissa is already packing her bags. She saw the news about the corporate freeze. She's leaving me!"
"I suppose she realized today really isn't the day to make herself uncomfortable," I smiled coldly, echoing his mistress's words. "Security will escort you out. My lawyers will send you the divorce settlement. Sign it, or I hand the embezzlement files over to the federal prosecutor."
David was dragged out of his own building, clutching a cardboard box of his desk belongings, stripped of his wealth, his reputation, and his family.
I walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows and looked out over the city. For twenty-eight years, I had made myself small so David could feel big. I had swallowed my pride to keep the peace. But as I stood in the center of the empire I had just reclaimed, I realized something beautiful.
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I didn't need to fight for a seat at the table anymore.
I owned the entire room.
