By late afternoon, the cuts along my arms had been cleaned, my ribs had been examined, and a specialist had confirmed that the baby remained stable.
There were no comforting promises.
The next twenty-four hours mattered.
I needed monitoring, rest, and as little stress as possible.
I almost laughed when the doctor said that last part.
My husband had thrown me from a car, stolen from the company I now controlled, and transferred money to his mistress.
Somewhere across the city, he was preparing to claim even more.
Rest would have to wait.
Jonathan set up a secure video connection in the clinic suite.
The screen showed the main boardroom at Pierce Development: dark wood, glass walls, a long table, and the silver skyline beyond it.
Landon had designed that room to intimidate people.
Every chair faced the place he sat.
At five fifty-eight, he entered wearing the same charcoal suit he had worn in the car.
He had removed his tie.
Sienna followed in a pale silk dress, carrying my leather handbag.
My handbag.
She placed it on the table beside Landon as though it already belonged to her.
The sight of it did more to steady me than any medicine could have.
Board members filed in with tight expressions.
Jonathan stood at the far end of the table, the sealed audit folder in front of him.
He had already circulated notice that Marlowe Holdings was exercising emergency governance rights, but he had not told them why.
Landon dropped into his chair.
“This meeting is unauthorized,” he said.
“And I have a family emergency.”
Sienna touched his shoulder with practiced sympathy.
“Ava became unstable during an argument,” Landon continued.
“She demanded to be let out of the car and disappeared before I could stop her.”
My fingers tightened around the clinic blanket.
He had prepared the lie quickly.
“She has been under emotional strain because of the pregnancy,” he said.
“Until she is located, I need temporary authority to protect the company from any claims tied to her grandfather’s estate.”
There it was.
He had abandoned me less than four hours earlier, and he was already using my pregnancy to declare me unstable and my absence to expand his power.
Jonathan did not sit.
“Your request is denied.”
Landon gave him a thin smile.
“You do not have authority to deny anything here.”
“I represent the majority voting shareholder.”
“You represent my wife’s deceased grandfather.”
“Not anymore.”
Jonathan touched the control beside the screen.
My image appeared on the boardroom wall.
The room went silent.
Landon’s face emptied.
Sienna’s hand slipped from his shoulder.
I was sitting upright in a clinic bed with a bandage across my arm and bruising beginning beneath my collarbone.
I had changed into a plain medical gown, but I had asked the nurse not to hide the damage.
Landon needed to see what he had failed to destroy.
“Hello, Landon,” I said.
His mouth opened, but no sound came out.
Sienna recovered first.
“Ava, thank God.
We were terrified.”
I looked at the handbag beside her.
“Were you?”
She pulled her hand away from it.
