Part 3
personal occupancy.
It could not transfer ownership because Marcus never held title.”
Julianne remembered the confidence with which he had claimed it.
“The condo stays with me.”
He had not even known whose home he was standing in.
“What about the children’s accounts?” Julianne asked.
“Protected.
He cannot touch them.”
Only then did she allow herself to breathe fully.
Back at the clinic, Marcus was calling Julianne for the seventh time.
Each call went directly to voicemail.
He tried the company’s chief financial officer, then the chairman, then the head of security.
No one answered.
His father finally spoke.
“What did you do?”
Marcus rounded on him.
“You knew she had those shares?”
“I knew Samuel Vale protected his daughter.
I did not know you were foolish enough to steal from her trust’s company.”
“I didn’t steal anything.”
Roxanne held up her phone.
“The notice says you charged more than four hundred thousand dollars in unauthorized personal expenses.”
Penelope’s face changed.
“Four hundred thousand?”
Marcus heard the interest in her voice and looked at her with disgust.
“You told me you loved me before you knew anything about the company.”
Penelope gave a brittle laugh.
“You introduced yourself by telling me you were going to inherit it.”
Adrian moved toward the door.
Marcus blocked him.
“You’re not leaving.”
“This is between you and her.”
“You slept with the woman carrying the child I was preparing to raise.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“You were still married when you started seeing her.”
The words landed harder than a shout.
Marcus’s father looked away.
Evelyn sank into a chair.
Even Roxanne had nothing to say.
Marcus had demanded loyalty from everyone while offering none himself.
Penelope began to cry, but Dr.
Vance interrupted before the argument could grow louder.
“My priority is the patient and the baby.
This appointment is over.
Anyone who cannot remain calm must leave.”
A security officer appeared behind the nurse.
Marcus gave Penelope one final look.
“Did you know?”
She hesitated.
That hesitation destroyed the last possibility that she had been innocent.
“I wasn’t sure,” she said.
“You let me divorce my wife.
You let me reject my children.
You let my family celebrate.”
Penelope’s expression hardened.
“You made those choices yourself.”
For once, Marcus had no answer.
The clinic security officer escorted him into the hallway.
His mother followed, whispering that they needed to contain the scandal before it reached the press.
Roxanne was already deleting photographs she had posted from the waiting room.
Marcus barely heard them.
He called Julianne again.
This time, she answered.
There was airport noise in the background.
“Julianne.”
“Yes?”
He had expected anger.
Her calmness unsettled him more.
“There’s been a mistake.”
“Which one?”
“The divorce.
The company notice.
All of it.”
“No,” she said.
“The mistake lasted eight years.
The paperwork ended it this morning.”
He pressed a hand against the clinic wall.
“You can’t suspend me without a board vote.”
“The board voted forty minutes ago.”
“You planned this.”
“I protected my children and my father’s company.
You provided the evidence.”
Marcus lowered his voice as his family gathered around him.
“We can fix this.
May you like
I was angry when I said those things about Lily and Noah.”
Julianne looked through the lounge window at the aircraft waiting beyond the glass.
