“I am billing you for what you stole.”
“Catherine, if I sign this, and I lose my job, I will have literally nothing!”
“That sounds like a problem for Allison to solve,” I replied, my voice completely barren of empathy. “Since she loves you so undeniably.”
At the mention of her name, Jason’s face contorted in bitter resentment. “She won’t even answer my calls. When I told her the assets were frozen, she blocked my number.”
A hollow, triumphant laugh echoed in my mind, but my face remained carved from stone. The ultimate betrayal had eaten itself.
“Sign the papers at Daniel’s office on Friday,” I commanded. “Or I drag this into open court, and I make sure your fraud is a matter of permanent public record.”
He looked at me, realizing for the absolute first time that the woman he had married was dead, and the woman standing before him would not hesitate to bury him.
He dropped the papers, grabbed the handle of his suitcase, and walked to the door. He paused with his hand on the brass knob. “If you ever need anything…”
“I will never need you again,” I said.
The door clicked shut. I sat down at the table, cut a piece of the cold salmon, and took a bite. It tasted like absolute freedom.
Chapter 6: Final Signatures
The next forty-eight hours were a blur of systemic untangling. The corporate investigation consumed Jason’s professional life. My colleagues offered quiet, respectful nods in the hallways, recognizing the blast radius I had survived.
On Thursday afternoon, my phone pinged. An unsaved number.
Catherine, it’s Allison. I know you hate me, but please, I need to explain. Can we meet?
I stared at the glowing pixels. I didn’t want to see her, but leaving a toxic variable unresolved violates every principle of project management. I texted back an address.
We met at a sterile, corporate café near her new office. Allison looked terrible. Her eyes were puffy, her signature red nails chipped. When I sat down, she immediately launched into a pathetic, weeping monologue.
“I swear, Cat, I didn’t plan it! When I moved in, he was just so lonely. He said you only cared about your spreadsheets and your career. I just wanted to comfort him, and it spiraled out of control!”
I watched her cry, feeling utterly disconnected, as if observing a poorly acted soap opera. “You lived in my home. You ate my food. You smiled in my face while sleeping in my bed. Do you know what repulses me the most, Allison? It isn’t that you took my treacherous husband. It’s that you thought I was stupid enough to keep him.”
Allison gasped, her tears halting abruptly. “He told me you ruined his career. He said you framed him for corporate theft.”
