Chapter 4 - THE EX-WIFE'S COUNTERATTACK
By dawn, the war had escalated from a quiet financial dismantling to an all-out public relations nightmare.
I sat at my desk with my morning espresso when my chief of staff, Marcus, burst into my office without knocking, holding his tablet up like a shield.
“Boss, you need to see this right now. Twitter is blowing up.”
I took the tablet. A viral thread had been posted half an hour ago by none other than Vanessa’s real estate firm’s official account, featuring a heavily edited, sob-story screenshot of Claire crying inside an airport terminal.
The caption read: Heartless corporate executive uses her multi-billion-dollar company power to ruin a bride-to-be’s family healing trip just out of bitter jealousy! Shame on Northstar Maritime Holdings for harboring tyrants who weaponize compliance systems against innocent families!
Accompanying it was a tagging spree directed at major news outlets, local Seattle newspapers, and Northstar’s primary board of directors. Within minutes, sympathetic comments were pouring in from outraged internet users calling for my immediate termination and doxxing my corporate profile.
Marcus watched me anxiously. “Mara, the PR team is freaking out. The board’s executive committee is already calling emergency lines. They want to know what kind of personal scandal is bleeding into company operations.”
I didn’t panic. Instead, a slow, razor-sharp smile spread across my face.
“Call an emergency session of the Board of Directors for 10:00 AM,” I instructed calmly, setting my espresso cup down. “Tell them I will be presenting a full compliance audit regarding misuse of corporate executive perks, unauthorized third-party liabilities, and potential insider fraud involving a senior executive’s spouse.”
“Whose spouse?” Marcus blinked.
“Mine,” I replied smoothly. “And tell our legal department to pull up Vanessa’s real estate license records. Let’s see how many of her company’s 'family healing' trips were written off as corporate tax fraud.”
At 10:00 sharp, I walked into the sleek mahogany boardroom on the fifty-fifth floor. The five members of Northstar’s executive board sat around the long table, looking grave and tense. At the head of the table sat Arthur Vance, the chairman, whose expression was etched with severe disapproval.
“Mara,” Arthur began sternly before I even took my seat. “We’ve received an avalanche of complaints this morning regarding an explosive social media campaign targeting your personal life and, by extension, this company. Explain yourself before we vote on a temporary suspension.”
I didn't rush. I pulled my sleek leather folio from under my arm, opened it, and laid out three pristine folders in front of the chairman.
“Gentlemen,” I said, my voice echoing clearly through the silent room. “Before you vote on my suspension, you might want to look at Exhibit A. That viral post accusing me of tyranny? It was published using a corporate-subsidized IP address registered to Vanessa’s Real Estate LLC—a firm that has been illegally utilizing Northstar’s VIP concierge services for personal vacations for the past four years, courtesy of my husband, Daniel Sterling, who happens to be a mid-level procurement manager in our logistics division.”
The room went dead silent. Arthur picked up the first folder, his eyes scanning the financial trails and booking logs.
“Furthermore,” I continued, leaning forward, resting my palms on the table, “not only has Mr. Sterling been funneling company-paid luxury perks to his ex-wife and daughter under false compliance pretenses, but Vanessa’s real estate agency has been laundering personal travel expenses through Northstar’s vendor accounts to evade state taxes.”
Arthur slowly lowered the folder, looking up at me with a mixture of shock and profound respect.
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“Good god, Mara,” he breathed. “You’re not just defending a personal dispute... you’ve uncovered an active internal leak.”
“Oh, it gets better, Arthur,” I smiled coldly. “Let’s vote on my suspension whenever you’re ready. But first, let’s vote to terminate Daniel Sterling for corporate fraud and initiate a full forensic audit of Vanessa’s entire business portfolio.”
