Chapter 4 - The Target on My Back
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“He was going to send me to prison,” Rosa whispered, her body shivering violently. “He had it all ready to go.”
“He’s not sending anyone to prison, Rosa,” I promised, printing out three copies of the drafted police report immediately. “Filing a false police report is a felony, and he just left the evidence sitting on a thumb drive.”
As I scrolled further down the file directory, another document caught my eye.
The file title made my blood run cold: PRENUPTIAL DISCLOSURE — EVELYN HARPER.
I opened it.
The document was a proposed prenuptial agreement drafted by Adrian’s personal corporate attorneys. In it, my legal nonprofit was characterized as a zero-value tax write-off, and I was described as a financially dependent partner reliant entirely on Adrian’s executive income.
I let out a short, humorless laugh. “He really had no idea who I was, did he?”
Rosa looked at me, confused. “What do you mean?”
What Adrian had apparently never bothered to research was that the historic downtown building housing my nonprofit, its five-million-dollar legal defense fund, and several prime commercial investment properties were held through a private family trust established by my late grandmother thirty years ago.
I had never needed a single cent of Adrian’s money. In fact, my liquid net worth exceeded his corporate valuation by a substantial margin. I had stayed quiet about my wealth simply because I valued modesty over arrogance.
Then I clicked on an archived email thread attached to the bottom of the folder.
It was a message sent six weeks ago from Adrian to his chief financial officer.
“Once the marriage is complete, Evelyn’s professional contacts and clean reputation should help us easily pass the ethics certification,” Adrian had written. “She won't realize the merger’s valuation depends heavily on her personal credibility.”
My breath hitched in my throat. My engagement hadn't just been a romantic milestone. It was a calculated business asset designed to save his struggling merger.
I scrolled down to the final attachment in the folder. It was a comprehensive background dossier conducted on me by a private investigator.
At the bottom of the cover page, someone had scribbled a handwritten note:
IF SHE DISCOVERS ROSA, MOVE THE WEDDING DATE FORWARD IMMEDIATELY.
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Beneath it was Adrian’s typed response:
“Understood. If Evelyn finds out, I'll propose an immediate courthouse union before she can consult her legal team.”
