Chapter 7 - The Desperate Ploy
By week three, Julian Vale’s life was in complete freefall.
His credit cards had all been declined. His penthouse apartment lease—which was tied to his corporate expense account—was terminated by the landlord. His friends in high society had blocked his number, terrified that associating with him would draw the ire of the Vale Meridian legal team.
Desperate, broke, and running out of options, Julian decided to play his final, most pathetic card.
He waited outside the gates of our Pacific Heights estate until my car pulled out, then followed my driver at a distance until we stopped at a private medical clinic in downtown San Francisco where I was attending a grief counseling session.
As I stepped out of the back of the car, flanked by two security guards, Julian lunged out from behind a concrete pillar.
"Evelyn! Wait! Please, just two minutes!"
The security guards immediately moved in, pinning Julian against the brick wall of the clinic before he could take another step.
"Get off me! Let me go! Evelyn, tell them to let me go!" Julian yelled, struggling against the guards.
I turned around slowly, adjusting my sunglasses. I looked at the man who used to stride through boardrooms with arrogant perfection. Now, his hair was messy, his designer suit was wrinkled, and dark circles bruised his eyes. He looked pathetic.
"Let him speak," I instructed the guards.
They released their grip, shoving Julian back a step. He stumbled, catching himself against the wall, breathing heavily.
"Evelyn... please," Julian stammered, his voice cracking with genuine desperation. "I know I messed up. I was stupid, I was blind, I got caught up in corporate stress and Chloe’s manipulation. But we were married for five years! We loved each other!"
"Did we, Julian?" I asked quietly. "When did you ever love me? Was it when you left for Napa while I was pregnant? Was it when you ignored my text messages while our son was dying? Or was it when you embezzled company funds to buy apartments for another woman?"
Julian choked back a sob, his hands trembling as he reached out toward me. "I’m paying for it, okay? Chloe betrayed me, the board fired me, my mother is threatening to disown me because you cut off her allowance—I have nothing left, Evelyn. Absolutely nothing."
"Good," I said coldly. "That’s exactly what I felt when I woke up in that hospital room."
"Please... come back to me," he begged, dropping to his knees on the pavement in front of me, ignoring the pedestrians walking past. "We can fix this. We can leave the city, start over somewhere new, have another child—"
The word child hung in the air between us like a poisoned blade.
I stepped closer, looking down at the man kneeling in the dirt.
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"You will never have another child, Julian. And you will never touch a single cent of my father's company again," I said, my voice cutting through the morning air. "The divorce papers are being finalized. Sign them, or spend the next ten years defending yourself against federal felony charges for corporate fraud and espionage. The choice is yours."
Without waiting for his answer, I turned around and walked up the steps of the clinic, the heavy glass doors closing behind me.
