Chapter 3 - The True Benefactor
I looked at the woman who thought she was stealing a king.
"A future," I repeated softly.
"Emily, don't make this a scene," Nathan said, leaning forward. The mask of the devoted father was entirely gone. In its place was the ruthless, climbing opportunist my father had always warned me about. "Sienna’s family has pledged fifty million dollars to my firm’s new global initiative. It’s the deal of a lifetime. I’m sorry about the timing, but my attorneys will draw up the divorce papers by Friday. I'll make sure you and the baby are financially secure. You can even keep the house."
He thought he was being generous.
He thought he had outsmarted me, traded up to a shinier, wealthier model, and secured his legacy in one fell swoop.
I didn't yell. I didn't cry.
I looked at Julian. Julian leaned against the hospital door, arms crossed, a dark, knowing smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
I reached into my wool coat, pulled out my phone, and looked at Nathan.
"Nathan," I said, my voice echoing with a lethal, icy authority he had never heard in our four years of marriage. "Do you know why my father hated you?"
Nathan frowned, thrown by the question. "Because he was an elitist old man who didn't think I was good enough for his daughter."
"No," I corrected gently. "Because he knew you were a parasite. And he knew that one day, you would try to bite the hand that fed you."
I tapped a contact on my phone and put it on speaker. It rang once.
"Naomi," I said into the quiet room.
"Madam Chairwoman," the crisp, professional voice of my late father’s estate manager answered immediately.
Sienna’s brow furrowed. Nathan’s confident posture faltered.
"Who is Madam Chairwoman?" Sienna asked, looking between me and the phone.
May you like
"Naomi," I continued, ignoring the mistress entirely. "Please review the Sterling Group’s fifty-million-dollar pledge to Carter Philanthropic."
"I have it right here, Emily," Naomi replied. "As the silent, controlling trust behind the Sterling Group’s philanthropic arm, the Hail Estate holds final veto power over all external capital distributions."
