Chapter 8 - The War He Started in Public
Jason did not return my calls.
He did not answer David Keller.
By morning, his photograph appeared on a business news site beneath the headline:
FOUNDER CLAIMS ESTRANGED WIFE SEIZED TECH COMPANY IN BITTER DIVORCE
The article quoted an unnamed source who described me as controlling, calculating, and obsessed with financial power.
It claimed Jason had sacrificed his marriage because he wanted children and I had “chosen career ambition over family.”
There was no mention of his diagnosis.
No mention of Brittany.
No mention of the forged signatures, offshore accounts, or missing client files.
Within hours, other sites repeated the story.
A photograph from our wedding appeared beside one from the Sunday dinner. Someone had cropped Brittany out, leaving Jason and me standing on opposite sides of the table.
My mother gave a statement.
“She has always struggled to separate personal feelings from business decisions,” she told a reporter. “We hope she finds compassion before more innocent people are hurt.”
I read the sentence in my office.
Noah stood near the windows, waiting for me to react.
“What are employees saying?” I asked.
“Some are worried. Most are angry that reporters are calling their homes.”
“And clients?”
“Three requested emergency meetings. One paused a contract renewal.”
“Schedule every meeting.”
“You should release a response.”
“Not about the marriage.”
“He is using the marriage to undermine the company.”
“Then we answer with facts the company can legally disclose.”
Our board issued a brief statement confirming Jason’s removal following an independent investigation into unauthorized transactions and data-security concerns.
We did not mention the affair.
We did not attack his character.
We did not reveal private medical information.
That restraint frustrated reporters who wanted spectacle, but it reassured clients.
I spent the next fourteen hours speaking with them.
I explained the security breach.
I offered independent verification that their data had not been distributed.
I promised transparency without pretending we knew more than we did.
By midnight, two of the three paused contracts had been restored.
The third client wanted forty-eight hours.
“You saved more business today than Jason closed last quarter,” Noah said as we walked toward the elevators.
“I told the truth.”
“That shouldn’t be unusual.”
“It is when people are afraid.”
The elevator doors opened.
For the first time all day, neither of us had a document in our hands.
Noah loosened his tie.
“How are you actually doing?”
The question caught me off guard.
Everyone else asked what I intended to do.
No one asked how I was.
“I don’t know yet.”
“That’s probably an honest answer.”
We rode down in silence.
At the lobby doors, he stopped.
“Your car service was canceled.”
“I didn’t order one.”
“I did.”
“I can take a taxi.”
“Jason’s supporters posted your address online.”
My body went cold.
“The new apartment?”
“It appeared on a message board twenty minutes ago. Security is arranging another location.”
The public campaign had crossed into something more dangerous.
I spent that night in a secured corporate apartment with a guard downstairs.
At two in the morning, Brittany called.
“I saw the article,” she said.
“So did everyone else.”
“I didn’t speak to the reporter.”
“I didn’t think you did.”
“Mom did.”
“I know.”
“She says she was trying to make Jason stop attacking Dad.”
“That does not make sense.”
“Nothing makes sense anymore.”
I heard one of the hotel’s televisions behind her.
“Where is Jason?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
“When did you last see him?”
“Yesterday morning. He came to the hotel.”
“What did he want?”
“The flash drive.”
“Did you tell him you gave it to me?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
“How did he react?”
“He said I had betrayed our children.”
“They are not tools for controlling you.”
“I know that now.”
Her voice broke.
“He told me he had created a trust for them. He said there would be millions once Vale Systems launched.”
“Did you see the trust?”
“No.”
“Then assume it does not exist.”
She was silent.
“There’s something else,” she said. “At the house, he kept a locked suitcase in the study. I thought it contained business papers.”
“What was inside?”
“Cash. Passports. Two phones.”
“Whose passports?”
“His. And one with a different name but his photograph.”
I sat up.
“Where is the suitcase?”
“It disappeared before I left.”
Jason had not merely prepared to start another company.
He had prepared to disappear.
At seven the next morning, federal investigators arrived at Asteron.
The offshore transfers, forged documents, and stolen client data had triggered several overlapping inquiries.
I gave them complete access.
My father’s attorney announced that he was willing to cooperate.
My mother called from another number.
I declined the call.
At noon, Noah’s security team located the stolen client files.
Jason had uploaded them to a private server registered to Vale Systems.
The server also contained an investor presentation.
In it, Jason described Asteron as a failing legacy company and Vale as the future.
He intended to approach Asteron’s clients using their confidential data.
The final slide named Vale’s executive team.
Jason was chief executive.
Brittany was listed as chief brand officer.
My father was listed as financial adviser.
Beneath them was another name.
Chief legal and strategy officer: Camille Mercer.
I knew Camille.
She was the attorney who had handled several of Jason’s confidential acquisitions.
She was also the woman whose name appeared repeatedly in his late-night calendar entries.
Noah opened a folder of messages retrieved from the server.
Jason had not planned to build his future with Brittany.
He had promised Camille equity, a house in Europe, and a life together once the company transfer was complete.
One message was dated three days after Brittany’s embryo procedure.
Brittany believes the twins guarantee I’ll stay. Let her believe it until the patents are secure.
I felt sick.
Brittany had betrayed me.
But Jason had been betraying both of us.
Before I could decide how to tell her, my phone rang.
May you like
It was the hospital.
Brittany had collapsed in the hotel lobby.
