Chapter 3 - THE GHOST IN THE LEDGER
The next morning, I signed my own discharge papers despite the dull ache in my ribs.
I did not go to the suburban house I had shared with Adrian.
Instead, I took a taxi directly to the corporate office of Soler Maritime Systems in downtown Cádiz.
The glass tower stood tall against the gray Spanish sky, looking like a monument to my husband's public success.
But as I stepped out of the elevator on the executive floor, the staff did not look at me with pity.
They looked at me with a sudden, tense confusion because they had never seen me in a business suit.
"Mrs. Soler," the receptionist stammered, her fingers freezing over her keyboard.
"Your husband is in a closed meeting with the regional investment board."
"He... he didn't expect you to return from the hospital until next week."
"He doesn't run this floor, Clara," I said, my voice carrying a quiet, lethal authority.
"I do."
I walked directly toward the massive glass boardroom, my hand clenching the leather folder containing the original corporate deeds.
Inside, Adrian was laughing loudly, presenting a digital slide of our regional logistics expansion.
The board members were nodding in approval, their expensive watches catching the light of the modern chandeliers.
I pushed the heavy glass doors open, the sound of the frame striking the wall silencing the entire room.
Adrian’s smile died instantly, his face turning an pasty shade of gray as his eyes locked onto my split lip.
"Eva?" he whispered, his voice cracking slightly before he tried to recover his boisterous, public confidence.
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"Gentlemen, please excuse my wife, she has been... medically unstable following a recent fall at home."
"The only thing that is unstable in this room is your company, Adrian," I declared.
