Chapter 4
The sun was blazing at the entrance of the detention center, so bright it was almost blinding.
Emily and the private investigator, Hawk, were already waiting for her outside.
Hawk handed Claire a tablet. "Ms. Sutton, the cat's safe and sound."
He kept it short and to the point.
"One of Charles's housekeepers couldn't stand the way he was acting, so she secretly reached out to us. She was a huge help," he added.
Now that her only weakness was taken care of, all her worries melted away.
Claire took the tablet, and on the screen, Muffin was lounging in a cozy cat bed, lazily licking his paws.
He looked totally at ease, even a little chubbier than before.
After days of tension, Claire finally let herself breathe, all the stress melting away.
For the first time, real warmth flickered in her eyes.
"Thank you," Claire murmured.
Those two words made her seem more human, softer, and real for the first time.
Emily handed her a document and a brand-new outfit.
She said, "Claire, these are the papers showing you owned 5% of the company shares before you got married.
"According to the company bylaws, you're still the third-largest shareholder of NovaTech, with the legal right to review all the company's financial statements."
This was her trump card in the coming counterattack.
Claire was no longer the doormat housewife everyone used to take advantage of.
Claire changed into a sleek, tailored black business suit in the car.
When she stepped out again, her aura was off the charts, like she was back to being that legendary top lawyer who used to dominate the courtroom.
Claire took the wheel of Emily's car herself, not going home, but heading straight for Charles's headquarters, the NovaTech Tower.
Charles, your worst nightmare has just arrived.
Time for the real show to begin.
Right now, the tension in the top-floor conference room at NovaTech Tower was thick enough to cut with a knife.
All the company's top executives had gathered for an emergency meeting.
The hot topic? How to handle the scandal rocking the company, now that the chairman's wife was under investigation for financial misconduct.
Charles sat at the head of the table, his expression cold and brooding.
"I'll handle this. Stay focused and don't lose your composure," he said.
He was still trying to play the puppet master, keeping everyone in the dark to maintain his grip on the situation.
Just then, there was a loud bang.
The heavy wooden doors of the conference room burst open from the outside.
Claire strode in, her black stilettos clicking with every step, her silhouette framed by the light from the hallway.
The moment she walked in, the room fell dead silent.
All the execs stared like a ghost had just walked in, their jaws practically hitting the floor at the sight of the woman everyone thought was locked away.
Claire walked in like a queen taking back her throne; her presence hit them like a tidal wave, shaking everyone to their core.
Charles's face went pale as a sheet.
He shot up from his chair, staring her down with utter disbelief.
"What are you doing here?" Charles blurted out.
His voice trembled, thick with disbelief.
For the first time, his authority was being challenged, right in front of everyone.
Claire didn't even bother to look his way, completely ignoring him.
She strode right up to the head of the table and slapped her shareholder certificate down with a resounding smack.
The crack echoed through the room, making every exec's heart skip a beat.
"I'm here to claim my rights as a shareholder," Claire said, her voice icy and commanding, cutting through the silence like a blade.
"Starting now, I'm bringing in a third-party audit team, on my own authority, to dig through every single company account from the past three years," she announced.
Her gaze cut through the room like a blade, making sure everyone felt it.
"Anyone got a problem with that?" she shot back.
This was the ultimate counterattack, hitting Charles right where it hurt most.
Her gaze locked onto Charles, who looked as pale as a corpse.
Her eyes were icy, resolute, and utterly emotionless.
"That includes you, Mr. Goodman," she said.
This was the moment all ties between them were severed for good.
*****
The meeting broke up in chaos.
The execs, all scared out of their minds, bolted from the room like their lives depended on it.
Charles grabbed Claire's wrist and dragged her into his office, slamming the door shut and locking it behind them.
"Are you crazy, Claire?" Charles growled, his voice a low, furious rumble.
"Do you even realize what you're doing? The stock price will crash! The whole company will be ruined!" he shouted.
He was desperate, still clinging to the company's interests to try and control her.
Claire coolly shook off his hand, then flicked her sleeve like she couldn't stand even a speck of him on her.
She took her time fixing her collar, then looked up at him with a bored, icy stare.
"Whether this company sinks or swims depends on whether the books are clean or not," Claire said.
Her words hit him right where it hurt, exposing his deepest fear.
"So, Charles, what are you really scared of?" Claire said.
Charles stared into her icy, emotionless eyes, and for the first time, a wave of panic hit him deep in his gut.
It hit him; he barely even recognized the woman in front of him anymore.
He tried to soften his voice, pulling the same old trick, using their relationship to tug at her heartstrings.
"Claire, can we just stop this, please?" he said.
He stepped forward, reaching out to pull her into his arms.
"Let's go home; let's go back to how things used to be. I'll do whatever you want," he said.
But it was already too late.
His emotional tactics were completely useless on Claire now.
Claire's eyes drifted to the giant wedding photo sitting on his oversized desk.
In the picture, she was in a white wedding dress, he in a black tuxedo, the two of them leaning close together, grinning like they owned the world.
What a joke.
The contrast between their once-bright happiness and the brutal reality now only made Claire's pain and determination burn even brighter.
Without a word, she strode over and picked up the heavy silver frame.
Under Charles's stunned gaze, she raised it above her head and slammed it down onto the polished marble floor with all her strength.
The glass splintered with a crisp, ear-splitting sound.
The photo that had marked five years of their marriage snapped in half, just like that.
Smashing the picture was like smashing their past for good; there was no going back, nothing left to fix.
"You..." Charles pointed at her, so furious he couldn't even get the words out.
Claire didn't stop.
She reached into her purse, pulled out another document she'd been holding onto, and tossed it right in front of him.
Everything was spelled out in black and white.
Divorce papers.
"Sign it," Claire said.
There wasn't a shred of warmth in her tone, just cold, hard finality.
"All I want is the 5% of shares I owned before we got married. As for everything you made after? Keep it. I don't want a single dollar," she added.
Claire's ruthless, decisive demand for divorce blindsided Charles; he never saw it coming.
Charles stared at the words "Divorce Agreement" in bold, black letters, the words burning into his eyes like a slap in the face.
He lost it, grabbing Claire's wrist like he wanted to crush her bones.
"I won't sign it!" he roared.