Chapter 4 - THE AUDIT OF BETRAYAL
Three days later,
I was discharged from the hospital.
I didn't go to the penthouse I had shared with Bennett.
I went straight to Greenwich,
to the stone house overlooking the Sound.
It was my sanctuary,
the place where I felt most like myself.
My sister,
Elara,
had stocked the fridge and hired a private nurse.
"You need to rest,
Viv,"
she insisted,
as I sat on the terrace wrapped in a cashmere throw.
"Rest is for people who aren't at war,"
I replied,
looking at the gray water.
I had my laptop open,
connected to a secure server Elara's firm had provided.
I was looking at the company's internal ledger,
the one Bennett thought he had deleted.
He was a good executive,
but he was a terrible criminal.
He had left digital footprints everywhere,
like a thief walking through wet cement.
I found the "consulting fees" paid to Ava Monroe’s shell company.
Nearly three million dollars over eighteen months.
I found the travel expenses for "business trips" that matched Ava’s social media posts.
Paris,
Rome,
the Maldives.
They had been living a luxury life on my dime,
literally.
But the most damning evidence was the emails.
Conversations between Bennett and Ava,
detailing how they would "handle" me.
"She's too soft,"
Ava had written in one.
"She'll sign anything if you tell her it's for the family."
"I'll have the deed ready after her surgery,"
Bennett had replied.
"The meds will make her compliant."
I felt a wave of nausea,
but I forced myself to keep reading.
I needed the anger,
it was the only thing keeping the pain at bay.
I found a series of messages from a month ago,
concerning my health.
Bennett had been talking to a specialist about "long-term care" for a spouse with "cognitive decline."
He was building the narrative before the surgery even happened.
He had intended for me to never fully recover.
I closed the laptop,
my hands trembling.
The depth of his betrayal was a bottomless pit.
I called Arthur Sterling.
"I have the digital backup,"
I said,
my voice cold.
"It's all there."
"Good,"
Arthur said.
"I've just received word that the bank has frozen the company's accounts."
"Bennett is panicking."
"He's been calling Elara,
begging to speak to you."
"Tell him he can speak to the District Attorney,"
I said.
"And Arthur?"
"Yes,
Vivienne?"
"Make sure Ava Monroe is found."
"I want her to see the face of the woman she thought was 'too soft'."
I hung up and looked out at the water.
The sun was setting,
painting the sky in shades of bruised purple and gold.
I was no longer the wife recovering from surgery.
May you like
I was the auditor of his sins.
And the final tally was coming.
