11. Cara
— ? —
Cara
The conference room is cold.
Sarah Brennan spreads documents across the table like she’s dealing cards in a game where the stakes are my entire life.
“He’s filed a counterclaim.” Her voice is level. “Using everything. The surveillance photos. The break-in - which his lawyers claim was staged. Photos of you entering and leaving Damien’s building at all hours.”
“Staged?” Damien’s voice is sharp. “Someone destroyed her apartment-”
“Someone destroyed the apartment of a woman who very publicly humiliated her husband.” Sarah doesn’t flinch. “His lawyers are arguing she orchestrated the whole thing for sympathy.”
“That’s insane.”
“It’s strategy.” She pulls out another folder. “And now they have Amanda backing his story. She filed an affidavit yesterday.”
My stomach drops. “What?”
“Claims you’ve been harassing her for months. That you threatened her. That you’re ‘mentally unstable and obsessed with destroying Dr. Thorne’s reputation.’”
The room tilts.
“She’s lying.”
“Probably. But she’s lying convincingly, with documentation to back it up.” Sarah spreads more papers. “Texts from your number. Emails from your account.”
“I never sent her anything-”
“They can fake that,” Damien says. “The family has resources.”
“So what do we do?” My voice sounds distant. “How do I fight something that never happened?”
Sarah is quiet for a moment.
“We need ammunition of our own. Something that proves premeditation on Marcus’s part. Evidence that he planned this before you ever looked at Damien.”
“I have screenshots,” Damien offers. “From his group chat-”
“Screenshots can be fabricated. We need someone on the inside. Someone who can testify.”
I think about Amanda. The way her face crumbled when I showed her those texts. The doubt in her eyes before the anger took over.
“Amanda,” I say slowly.
They both look at me.
“She’s been with him. She knows things - secrets, plans, conversations he thought were private.” My mind is racing. “And she’s not as loyal as she pretends. I’ve seen her doubt him.”
“She just filed an affidavit against you,” Sarah points out.
“Because he told her to. Because she thinks he loves her.” I lean forward. “But what if she realized she’s just another victim?”
Damien catches on. “Show her the group chat. Everything.”
“Exactly. Give her a choice.”
Sarah considers this. “It’s risky. If she stays loyal, she could warn him.”
“She won’t.” I’m not sure where the certainty comes from, but I feel it. “She’s pregnant with his baby, and he’s already planning how to throw her away. Some part of her knows it.”
***
Neutral territory. Somewhere public.
Amanda looks terrible when she walks in. Dark circles under her eyes. Hair limp and unwashed. The baby bump straining against her sweater.
She slides into the booth across from me. Doesn’t order anything.
“Why would I help you?” Her voice is hostile. Defensive. “After everything you did-”
“After everything I did?” I keep my voice calm. “You slept with my husband. You helped him gaslight me. You filed a false affidavit-”
“It’s not false. You are crazy-”
“Read these.” I slide my phone across the table. “Then tell me who’s crazy.”
She stares at the screen. The group chat. Marcus’s words.
She’s a fun distraction. Good for now.
Not smart enough to be a problem.
Three more months and I’ll have access to all her accounts. Then the real fun begins.
Her face crumbles.
“This isn’t real.” Her voice is thin. “You faked this-”
“I didn’t.”
“He said he loved me. He said we were going to be together-”
“He tells everyone that. It’s how he operates.” I lean forward. “Amanda, I know we’re not friends. But you have something I need. Emails. Texts. Anything that proves he was planning this before I ever found out.”
“If I give you that…”
“Then you stop being his accomplice. And you start being a witness.”
Tears are streaming down her face.
“I saved everything,” she whispers. “I knew something was off. I just didn’t want to believe it.”
She hands over her phone.
A year of emails. Explicit. Strategic. Cruel.
Three more months and we’ll have everything. Then I’ll file for divorce.
She’s too trusting to see what’s right in front of her.
After this is over, I’m thinking Costa Rica. You’d look good on a beach.
“He never mentioned me staying with him,” Amanda whispers. “In any of his plans. Not me. Not the baby.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t.” She wipes her eyes. “Don’t be nice to me.”
“None of us deserved what he did.” I hand her phone back. “But we can make sure he doesn’t get away with it.”
She’s quiet for a long moment.
“The mediation is next week,” she says finally. “I’ll be there. I’ll tell them everything.”
***
Conference room. Both sides. A mediator at the head of the table.
Marcus walks in smug. His parents behind him. Amanda’s chair is empty.
Sarah presents our evidence first. The original photos. The financial records.
Marcus’s lawyers spin everything. “Locker room talk.” “Exaggeration.” “A vindictive wife staging her own harassment.”
Then Sarah pulls out Amanda’s emails.
A year of messages between Marcus and Amanda. Planning when to leave me. How to make it look like my fault. Laughing about how naive I was.
She keeps asking if I’m happy. It’s pathetic.
She keeps trying to get pregnant. I told her there’s something wrong with her. She believes everything I say.
The room goes silent.
Eleanor puts a hand over her mouth. Victor looks at his son like he’s never seen him before.
“Your client filed a counterclaim based on evidence he manufactured,” Sarah says. “That’s fraud.”
Marcus is sweating. “That’s-I didn’t-”
The door opens.
Amanda walks in. Late. Deliberate.
She looks at Marcus. Cold.
“Everything in my affidavit was a lie. You wrote it. You told me what to say.” Her voice shakes. “I have proof.”
She opens her bag. Pulls out printed emails. Voice recordings. Screenshots.
“He planned everything. The affair. The fraud. The surveillance.” She looks at Marcus with something like hatred. “You told me I was special. I was just convenient.”
Marcus doesn’t even look at her. “Sit down. Don’t make a scene.”
“Don’t make a scene?” Amanda laughs. “You made me the villain. And I wasn’t even special to you.”
She walks up to him.
Slaps him.
The sound cracks through the room.
“We’re done. If you ever contact me again, I’ll give them everything else I have.”
She walks out. Head high.
***
The mediator rules in my favor.
I get the house. Alimony. A clean break.
Marcus is escorted out by his own lawyer, face white with fury.
Damien is waiting outside the conference room. He opens his arms, and I walk into them.
“It’s over,” I breathe.
“Almost.”
***
That Night
Three in the morning. Pounding on the door.
I’m in Damien’s bed when it starts. The shouting. The screaming.
“I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE!”
Marcus. Drunk.
Damien is up instantly. “Stay here.”
“Like hell.”
We go downstairs together. Through the security monitor, I can see him. Swaying on his feet. Eyes wild.
“YOU TOOK EVERYTHING! MY REPUTATION! MY FAMILY!”
Damien opens the door.
Marcus looks like hell. Suit rumpled. Tie undone. He’s been drinking. I can smell it from here.
“There you are.” He stumbles forward. “Both of you. The happy couple.”
“The police are on their way.” Damien’s voice is ice. “Leave now.”
“Worse?” Marcus laughs. “How could it get worse? I lost everything because of you.”
“You lost everything because you’re a predator and a fraud.” I step forward. “This is on you.”
“Bullshit.” Marcus jabs a finger at me. “You were nothing. I made you. And this is how you repay me?”
“You didn’t make me. You tried to break me.” I hold his gaze. “You failed.”
Something shifts in his expression. The manic energy drains away. Something cold underneath.
“I should have gotten rid of you years ago,” he says quietly. “Found a more permanent solution.”
Damien moves. Puts himself between me and Marcus.
“That sounded like a threat.”
“Did it?” Marcus reaches toward his jacket-
“POLICE! DON’T MOVE!”
Flashing lights. Officers pouring out of cars.
Marcus freezes.
“On the ground! Now!”
He doesn’t comply. Just stares at me.
“This isn’t over,” he says. “You hear me?”
They tackle him. Cuff him. Drag him toward the car.
I watch them put Marcus in the backseat. Watch the doors close.
“It’s over,” Damien says quietly. “It’s finally over.”
I watch the police car disappear around the corner.
He’s right. It is over.
Marcus just doesn’t know it yet.