Chapter 7 - A Carefully Edited Life
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Fiona Vale stared at the older woman, her perfectly painted lips parting in confusion.
“Dr. Ellison?” Fiona asked, stepping forward. “Matthias told the board you resigned due to health issues.”
Mara turned her sharp gaze toward the young mistress.
“Dismissing me after I explicitly refused to approve the toxic environmental waivers for the Hensley acquisition was inappropriate, Matthias,” Mara said calmly, completely ignoring Fiona’s confusion. “But lying to your communications director about why I left is just lazy.”
Fiona whipped her head around to look at Matthias. “You told me she resigned.”
“I told you what you needed to know, Fiona!” Matthias snapped, his temper finally breaking through his polished veneer.
Fiona’s expression instantly shifted. The smug, victorious glow of the woman wearing the $18,600 necklace vanished. She looked at Matthias, then at me, and I could see the wheels turning in her mind. I realized in that moment that I might not be the only woman in the room who had been fed a carefully edited, fabricated version of his life.
“You have absolutely no right to involve my wife in internal company matters, Mara,” Matthias growled, taking a threatening step toward the older woman. “Security will escort you out. Now.”
Mara did not flinch. She slowly unzipped her slim leather portfolio.
“I have every right to involve her, Matthias,” Mara replied, pulling out a thick stack of legal documents stamped with heavy red seals.
May you like
She bypassed my husband completely, stepping forward and looking directly into my eyes.
“Because your wife is not merely your wife,” Mara stated, her voice carrying across the silent, eavesdropping crowd. “She is the legal owner of the property at issue.”
