6. Vivienne
VIVIENNE
This is taking too fucking long.
I tapped my fingers against the marble counter, watching Madeline zipping around the backyard as she chased Kiera through the garden.
Maybe if I hadn’t been so distracted I would have hollered at them to get out of the flower beds.
My mind raced. I couldn’t keep sleeping in a bed next to him. Not when I knew what he was doing when Brennan and I weren’t looking.
I’d asked The Oracle if I could bring Brennan into the fold, tried to convince them that he could access files and evidence that Isaac had kept out of my reach.
But they refused to trust him. The powers that be weren’t certain that he would join our side. Afraid of rats.
Despite their distrust, I could tell Brennan was unaware of what was going on in the corporate shuffle of finances. It was also obvious that he disagreed with the direction Isaac wanted to take the company in.
Government contracts were of no interest to Brennan, not when they would be used to mass survey the American populace.
Madeline let out a belly laugh in the garden. Time wasn’t stopping, her love for her father just as strong as it always had been. And she had no idea the monster that was living under our roof.
Before long, it would be too late to pull her away from him.
All I could do was hope that all the values I’d tried to instill in her would stick. Protect the vulnerable. Punish the morally bankrupt. Don’t stay silent.
How can I expect her to follow those guiding principles if I’m just waiting here like a sitting duck?
Enough waiting.
I pushed off the countertop, peering down the hallways.
The house was empty, staff having the day off for summer Friday. Isaac would be in the office until 2pm.
If I was going to make a move, now was the time.
I ran down the hall, peeking into doorways and down corridors, making sure the place was clear with each step.
The Oracle needed real evidence. Not just financial records and random men claiming to be connected to Zeus. They needed victim statements and confessions. Something that Zeus and Isaac were careful to hide.
And if I knew my husband, he’d be hiding all of that right under my nose.
Never in our decade-long relationship had I questioned his loyalty, never snooped through his emails or tailed his car. If he was going to have an affair or hide from me, it would come to light. And when it did, I would’ve left his ass.
As I peeled open his office door, I felt my stomach drop. All those years of trust were broken because of what he had been doing.
It smelled like old cigars and warm wood in there. Like he’d been in here enjoying one last night, celebrating something in secret.
I didn’t have all day, I needed to be quick. Ripping open desk drawers, I hunted through stacks of paper, tore through manilla folders.
Nothing.
He was keeping his shit clean. At least he was smart enough to do that.
Reaching down to the bottom drawer, I felt the lock catch.
Ha. I dug around in the top drawer until I found a matching key, popping the cabinet open. Tabbing through the folders I stopped on an unlabeled section.
Inside were dozens of case files, law firm letterheads.
Jane Doe vs. Isaac Dumont, Zeus Industries
Sarah Jacobs vs Zeus Industries
Christina Moore vs Isaac Dumont, Zeus Industries.
My heart pounded in my chest as I grabbed the files.
Would he notice if I took them?
I didn’t bother answering my own question, scooping up the files before I could second guess myself. This was everything The Oracle had been hunting for, all the evidence we needed to take Isaac down.
Brennan and I could rebuild the company without him, start all of it over and make up for these wrongs.
Before I could stand, polished dress shoes stepped next to me, a booming voice bellowing down at me. “Goddamnit, Vivienne.”
Looking up at him, I saw the disgust on Isaac’s face. And I knew he’d see the same on mine.
I could lie, tell him I thought he was having an affair.
But I knew he would see right through it. He was a guilty man and he knew better than to trust a lawyer.
Instead, I stood up and held the files close. “Do you want to explain these?”
Isaac took a step forward, his chest heaving with anger. “Why would you do this to our family, Viv? We were perfect.”
Shaking my head, I took a step back. I didn’t want him to know I was terrified but I’d never seen his face like that, a gnarled tree of twisted violence.
“Perfect? How could we be perfect when this is what you’re hiding?” There was no hiding how disgusted I was, seeing what he got up to when no one was looking. “Does Brennan know?”
Scoffing, Isaac slammed his hand onto the desk. “Jesus Christ, Vivienne. You’ve ruined it.”
His lack of answer told me everything I needed to know. Of course Brennan didn’t know. He never would have stood for this, ever.
“Ruined it?” I couldn’t stop myself from laughing at him. “You’re trafficking children for fuck’s sake. Isaac, what are you doing? Who are you?”
His head lowered for a moment, shaking as he stared at the wood floors.
Taking a step closer, I knew I was on borrowed time. “Isaac, please. This isn’t you. Just stop all of this, come clean. If you surrender yourself, you’ll get a reduced sentence and we can try to start over.”
A shiver ran down my spine at the thought.
I’ll never be at peace again.
Even if he did everything he needed to, he’d never be the man I married again. He was lost. I’d never trust him in the same room as our beautiful daughter. Or little Kiera.
But he couldn’t know that. I needed to take him down.
Isaac took a step closer, his head still hung low. In a flash, his arms lifted to my shoulders as he pressed my back into the wall. “Stupid fucking woman. No one is ever going to know what I’m doing.”
Staring into his dark eyes, I knew that he could see the fear in mine now. “Stop it. Isaac, this is ridiculous. What are you going to do? Kill me?”
The words caught in my throat. I knew him. At least I thought I did. He couldn’t stoop that low, not to the mother of his child.
But The Oracle had warned me about the private army he’d been building. The dozens if not hundreds of men he’d hired as “security.” I just refused to believe that my Isaac was a pedophile and a murderer.
“What choice have you left me, Vivienne?” Isaac growled.
Confusion washed over me. He knew what he had to do. Surely a few years in prison wasn’t a worse option than…
I couldn’t stomach thinking it.
His breathing grew heavy as he stared down at me, his hands gripping my wrists as he held me against the wall.
I met his gaze, seeing the charming smile he’d flashed me in the hallway back in undergrad — the way the crowd parted for him to talk to me.
All the laughs we’d shared running through campus at night.
The early mornings writing the charter. His hand on my belly, little Madeline squirming around inside.
And I could see those moments flashing in his mind too.
Slamming his fist into the wall behind my head, Isaac yelled. “Fuck!” Then he straightened his shoulder and snarled. “You’re going to leave this place. I’m going to fake your death and take your shares.”
“Isaac, stop…” I shook my head.
But he lifted his hand to my throat and gripped the flesh. “If you ever show your face again, I’ll take out an insurance policy.” Gripping my body, Isaac flipped me toward the window.
Downstairs, Madeline and Kiera were still playing — completely unaware of what was happening just out of their view.
Through gritted teeth, I shook my head. “You wouldn’t ever hurt our daughter.”
Issac hissed in my ears. “Let’s not find out.”
I tried to find a way out, a way out of this room that would let me grab the kids before I had to flee this house. Was there anywhere on this planet that I could escape the watchful eye of the monstrous company he’d built? That I had helped him create?
“Do what’s right for our daughter.” Isaac’s voice grew calmer. “She’ll be safe under my watch.”
Shaking my head, I turned my head just enough to meet his gaze. “I won’t leave the shares to you. No. You’ll have no incentive to protect her. You’ll have all the power.”
Isaac knew I was right, that my years of practicing business law was going to fuck him over.
Should’ve married some trophy wife then.
“Madeline will get my shares. You’ll have control of Zeus until she turns 18 and the shares turn over to her. Then you’ll have to make your own daughter complicit in your crimes.” I could barely get the words out, Isaac’s grip on my body pressing my jaw into the wood paneling.
“No.” Isaac sneered. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You want me to go in peace? This is how you do it.”
Gritting his teeth, Isaac had no choice but to relent. He knew the woman he’d married, she wouldn’t go down with a fight.
“You know it’s only fair. It’s the only way to ensure her safety and good treatment. You’ll have to take care of her if you want her votes.”
Madeline adored her father, she would follow his lead so long as he didn’t push her away. It raised the hair on my skin, the thought of my baby helping him commit his crimes. But I knew the values I’d instilled in her, the same ones Brennan would keep working toward.
Madeline would never let innocent people get hurt.
And I had to trust that.
“Fine.” Isaac released his grip. “Leave. Now. No goodbyes.” Clearly, my husband thought he could keep his daughter under his control too. He’d use the next decade before she turned 18 to keep her leash short.
Under his care, she would become Isaac’s right hand. And Brennan would be outnumbered.
Looking out at the garden, I took one last look at my beautiful child. I’d already made this powerful man relent once, I wasn’t going to push my luck. Not when I’d secured Madeline’s safety.
She knows I love her. I’ll find her again.