Chapter 19
STELLA
Felix remained on his knees, eyes glaring at the door as if the devil himself was going to waltz through to claim his soul. Not yet... I want to destroy it a bit more first.
I preened, basking in the chaotic atmosphere, breathing in his desperation. After weeks of uncertainty and hurt, I felt weirdly detached and fully in control.
When I had laid down each photo, each scathing truth, I was immediately infused with a hit of vindication and justice.
Felix was completely breaking apart at the seams, and I was giddy at him finally getting a taste of the pain I’d had to live with since I learnt of his betrayal.
“Come in,” I called, voice cheery and sickly sweet, ignoring my soon-to-be ex-husband’s crippling face.
“I got your coffee, Stel—”
Heather’s statement cut off when she cleared the opening door and processed the scene in front of her.
And here comes the finale, baby.
“Shut the door behind you, Hilary, and take a seat,” I said, motioning to the opposite side of Felix so the two lovers could have a clear view of one another. Which was going to be difficult since he had internally shut down, his eyes going vacant the further she came into the room.
Heather stalled for half a second when she caught the graphic images splayed everywhere. Then, a metamorphosis seemed to take her over.
She straightened her spine, a cocky smirk coating her features as she strutted forward and sat in the vacant seat—a declaration of war. Oh, this will be fun.
Without hesitation, I pushed a fresh contract before her. Felix flinched, staring at the papers, entirely silent and absent.
Heather and I ignored him as we sized each other up.
“What’s this, then?” she asked with fake confidence. Yeah, honey, I can hear that little quiver wanting to break through.
“Your instant dismissal due to serious misconduct.”
A beat of friction buzzed between us, then she scoffed. “Does he lose his job?” she asked, referring to the glitching android at my feet.
“No.” He’s going to lose everything.
Felix remained so completely frozen that if he weren’t visibly breathing, I’d have been worried. Hmm, probably not even then.
I collected my favourite pen from my briefcase—the one I reserved for special occasions, a beautifully crafted graduation gift from Felix so many years earlier.
“Here,” I said, holding the fragile offering out to Heather. “Use this. It’s one of a kind, special, just like you.”
She ripped it out of my hand and broke the pen in half before chucking the pieces at Felix, who was shaking from my reusing his words for the cheap display they were.
But that was not what held his attention. His stare soon caught on Heather’s finger, which happened to house the same exact ring on my own—the platinum band he had generously gifted me on our ten-year anniversary.
I removed mine and lifted it in the air, letting the overhead lights reflect off the glowing jewellery before I let it go, the useless trinket rolling to a stop before Felix’s knees.
“One of a kind,” I repeated.
A painful groan seemed to rumble from his chest as his eyes lapsed shut to hide the agony warring within.
I tsked, pivoting my attention back on the threat that was still functioning. “Sign the papers, Hilary, before you lose more than your job.”
“What!?” she screeched. “I lose my job just because you can’t keep your man?! Getting rid of me isn’t going to help, Stella. Felix stepped out on you once, and he’ll do it again. He doesn’t want you!”
Her tirade lost its impact when I chuckled. “Oh, honey, look at where we are. You think I want a man like that? A cheat, an absent father? Someone who can’t commit or keep his vows? You poor, delusional child. It’s not that I want to keep him. The question is why do you?”
Heather was stunned, her words grating out like sandpaper. “If you don’t care, why dismiss me?”
“Although your affair with my weasel of a husband is grounds enough, that’s not the misconduct I’m referring to... It’s the embezzling.”
In one final comedown of the gavel, I smacked the last remaining document on the table between us—the most incriminating.
“You’ve been a busy girl, Hilary Copeland.”
Her face drained of colour as her precious smug expression was completely wiped off. Huh. The gravity of her situation was finally sinking in.
I didn’t just use that name to fuck with her. That was one of her previous identities—one of many aliases she had used to cheat and scam in the past.
Daisy, my genius and diabolical best friend, only required a date of birth and the bribe of her favourite liquorice shipped overnight—which promptly got me the results I required.
The complete undoing of those two imbeciles.
“Not up for reading?” I teased. “Let me do it for you, then.”
I flipped through the thick stack of papers, filled with numbers and bank statements.
When I found the highlighted figures, I cleared my throat.
“Rottweiler Enterprises, $1.2 million…”—flip—“Feather Industries, $800,000 dollars…”—flip—“and your biggest job yet. Stella Financial Management, $1.9 million…”
Felix twitched back to life, colour dripping back into his gaunt face as if he had been resuscitated.
I kept going. “Ahh. There’s quite a few transactions here, Hilary. There’s even a consultation from the Transmissible Diseases Clinic, charged on the company card. What was that for?”
“Nononononono,” Felix hummed. I continued to ignore him.
Heather began to stutter. And just like her useless lover, she was unable to find the right words. “Pl-please.”
I tilted my head, pouting, perfecting that sympathetic pose.
“I wouldn’t worry, honey. You might be facing a whole lot of charges, including wire fraud, theft and embezzlement,” I said, ticking each one off with a raised finger, “but you’re not alone.
Since this time, you had an accomplice, right?
And who better to conspire with than the CEO himself… ”
Felix was practically convulsing at that point, but at least he managed to find his lost voice. “Stella. It’s not true. I love you. I love this company—” His voice broke on a sob. “Fuck, you have to believe me. You have to believe me.”
I looked down on him—my crumbled, empty husband—and felt nothing. Too late.
After all my scheming and carefully laid plans, I finally pressed that flashing red button and went nuclear.
I pushed forward on the edge of my seat, my eyes boring into his so he could not misinterpret what I had to say next.
“But those are just more lies, Felix. The transaction history is right here, in black and white. Multiple transactions sent to your mistress during your sordid love affair. You’ve been aiding and abetting wire fraud, dear husband.
Investigations are underway, and there’s no escaping this.
” My voice lowered, breathy and intimate.
“And you called me the gold-digging whore?”
During our one-on-one moment, Heather thought she’d try to sneak out. Unfortunately for her, she wasn’t fast enough.
Felix roared—a painful, soul-crushing roar—then launched for her.
He was a rabid beast, tackling her to the ground as he climbed on top of her.
Not unlike previous encounters, I’d have bet.
Then his hands were wrapped around her throat as broken sobs rattled from his chest, and high-pitched banshee cries came from hers.
“I hate you. I hate you. I hate you,” He ranted, blind in his grief and loss.
I leant back in my chair, watching on in curiosity as the door slammed open and security wrestled them apart.
Felix struggled, disturbed eyes pinning on me as he was getting dragged through the doorway. “STELLA! I love you. Please, IT’S NOT TRUE. STELLA JOHNSON!”
With solid legs and unshakable fortitude, I rose to my feet, my fuck-me stilettos infusing me with the height and strength of a giant.
And as if the devil himself supported my claim once more, all the noise seemed to lull, to lapse into silence for one solitary second for my words to be heard.
“I no longer go by that name,” I said. “You can now address me as Ms Foster.”
I let his screams and Heather’s cries soak my being, my bloodthirst finally fed and satiated for the first time in two months.
Everything soon settled, the air still and undisturbed, when Howard shuffled inside, closing the door behind him, bringing with it a certain finality.
He didn’t know the depth of my deception, but he knew of Felix’s betrayal, which was enough. He hesitantly approached, sporting a prideful expression.
“Did you get your revenge, Ms Foster?”
“Not revenge, Howard. Due Process.”