Chapter 5 - A CONFRONTATION IN THE HEART OF THE CITY WHERE THE VICTIM FINALLY BECOMES THE VICTOR
The evening air was crisp as Noel arrived at the law offices of Crane & Sterling.
Yes,
the same Sterling who had been at the dinner.
But this was his brother,
Arthur,
the most feared divorce attorney in the Midwest.
He was waiting for her in a glass-walled conference room overlooking the lake.
"You've caused quite a stir,
Noel,"
Arthur said,
handing her a glass of sparkling water.
"My brother is currently in a board meeting trying to figure out how to distance himself from Darius."
"He should have distanced himself when the hand met my face,"
Noel said,
taking a seat.
Arthur nodded,
his expression grim.
"I agree.
And that's why I'm taking your case pro bono.
The optics are terrible for the firm if we don't support you."
"I don't need charity,
Arthur,"
she said.
"I have the intellectual property rights to the logistics software.
I have the leases for the primary distribution hubs.
I want a clean break,
and I want the Holt Table brand liquidated."
Arthur raised an eyebrow,
impressed by her cold efficiency.
"You want to destroy the company?"
"I want to rebuild it,"
she corrected.
"Under a new name.
With a new board.
And without a man who thinks violence is a punchline."
The door to the conference room burst open.
Darius stood there,
flushed and panting,
followed by two security guards who were trying to restrain him.
He had found out she was here through a leak in the law firm's reception.
"Noel!"
he bellowed.
"Stop this madness!
We can fix this!
We can go to therapy!
We can tell them it was a misunderstanding!"
Noel didn't stand up.
She didn't even turn her head.
She looked at Arthur.
"Is this enough for the restraining order?"
Arthur smiled and pulled a digital recorder from his pocket.
"More than enough."
Darius lunged toward the table,
but the security guards grabbed his arms.
He looked pathetic,
his expensive suit wrinkled,
his face still red from the burns and the shame.
"I loved you!"
he shouted,
a desperate lie that hung in the air like smoke.
Noel finally looked at him.
She looked at him the way a scientist looks at a specimen under a microscope.
"No,
Darius,"
she said.
"You loved the way I made you look.
You loved the way I managed your chaos.
But you never loved me.
Because you don't know how to love anything you can't control."
The guards began to pull him away.
He kicked at the floor,
screaming obscenities that echoed through the marble hallway.
It was the final tantrum of a falling idol.
When the doors finally closed,
Noel took a deep breath.
She felt the air fill her lungs,
clean and sweet.
"Shall we continue?"
she asked Arthur.
"We shall,"
he replied.
"The next step is the asset division."
Noel opened her folder.
She was ready.
The architect was no longer building for someone else.
She was building for herself.
May you like
And this time,
the foundation would be made of stone,
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