“You are injured,” he said.
“You are not thinking clearly.
Tell Adrian to restore access, and we will discuss everything privately.”
Thalia stared at him.
“Kyle?”
He did not look at her.
I glanced at the crop on the floor.
“Was I thinking clearly when you struck me the first time?”
His jaw tightened.
“You provoked me.”
Adrian’s recording device captured the words.
Kyle realized it a second too late.
“I did not mean that.”
“You said I humiliated your mistress because I objected when she discussed my fertility in front of your board.”
“She is pregnant.
Emotions are high.”
“Her emotions guided your hand twenty times?”
His eyes darted toward the silent staff members.
At last, he seemed to understand that the people he had treated as furniture were witnesses.
He turned toward them.
“You saw nothing.”
The oldest housekeeper, a woman who had worked in the estate since before our marriage, lifted her chin.
“I saw everything, sir.”
Another employee stepped beside her.
“So did I.”
Then another.
Kyle’s authority shrank with each voice.
Thalia backed away from him.
“This was not my idea,” she said.
“I told him you should apologize.
I never told him to hurt you.”
Kyle stared at her in disbelief.
“You said she needed to be taught a lesson.”
“I meant socially.”
“You handed me the crop.”
She went pale.
Adrian did not interrupt.
He let them expose each other.
Kyle’s phone rang once more.
He looked down and saw the bank president’s name.
He answered with both hands shaking.
“Yes?”
The conversation lasted less than a minute.
His personal credit facilities had been suspended because the collateral declarations were under review.
The apartment leased for Thalia, the cars, the yacht membership, and several investment accounts were all tied to those facilities.
Nothing had vanished without process.
Nothing had been stolen.
The scaffolding had simply been removed.
Kyle was left standing on what he had truly built himself.
It was not much.
When the call ended, he lowered the phone slowly.
“The board will reverse this,” he said.
“No,” Adrian replied.
“The board has already appointed an interim chief executive.
Your suspension remains in effect pending the audit.”
“I created that company.”
