Chapter 3 - The Cornered Beast
Within forty-eight hours, the news of our separation had hit the New York real estate circles.
Travis, realizing he was about to lose everything, did what all cornered beasts do: he went on the offensive. He hired a cheap tabloid PR firm to leak stories about me.
“Billionaire Cole Harrington Accused of Stealing Pregnant Wife of Rising Developer,” the headlines screamed.
The articles painted me as an ungrateful, gold-digging wife who had abandoned her hardworking husband during a high-risk pregnancy to climb into a billionaire’s bed. They posted pictures of me getting into Cole's Rolls-Royce at dawn, my face pale and disheveled, making it look like a shameful tryst rather than a rescue.
I sat in the penthouse, my hands shaking as I read the comments online. People who didn't know me, who didn't know the years of silence and pain I had endured, were calling me a monster.
The door to the penthouse opened, and Cole walked in. He looked at my face, saw the phone in my hand, and immediately took it from me.
"Don't read that trash, Madeline," he said, his voice firm.
"They're destroying my reputation, Cole," I sobbed. "I spent ten years building my name in this city. Now, I’m just a tabloid punchline. Travis is going to win. He’s going to make the board believe I’m unstable so he can keep control of my designs."
"He’s not going to win," Cole said, sitting beside me and wrapping his arm around my shoulders. The warmth of his body instantly calmed my racing heart. "Travis is playing a short game. He thinks this is about public opinion. I play the long game. This is about legal leverage."
He pulled a document from his leather briefcase.
"This morning, Julianna Vance’s father found out that Travis has been using his daughter’s agency to launder stolen corporate funds," Cole explained. "Mr. Vance is a proud man. He doesn't want his family name dragged into a federal fraud investigation. He has officially pulled his daughter out of Whitmore Development and revoked their credit lines."
"And Travis?" I asked.
"Without the Vance family's backing, and with the news of the impending audit of Verdant Designs, Travis's creditors are panicking," Cole said, a cold, satisfied smile playing on his lips. "He has a major loan payment due on Friday for the Greenwich project. If he doesn't pay, they will foreclose on his properties—including the Connecticut house."
"He’ll lose the house?"
"He’ll lose everything, Madeline. But he still has one card left to play, and he’s going to try to use it."
Right on cue, my phone began to vibrate. It was an unknown number, but I knew who it was.
"Answer it," Cole said, nodding encouragingly. "Let him show his hand."
I pressed the receiver to my ear. "Travis."
"Maddie! You have to stop this!" Travis’s voice was frantic, breathless, completely stripped of his usual polished arrogance. "Harrington’s lawyers are freezing my accounts! The bank is calling in the loans! If you don't drop the audit and release a statement saying the tabloid stories are false, we’re going to be ruined! Think about the baby, Maddie! Do you want our daughter to be born to a bankrupt father?"
"You should have thought about our daughter when you turned off your phone to sleep with Julianna," I said, my voice steady and cold. "You made your bed, Travis. Now you get to sleep in it. Alone."
"If you do this, I’ll take the baby!" Travis screamed, his voice cracking with a terrifying rage. "I’ll prove you’re an unfit mother! I’ll tell the court you’re having an affair with Harrington! I’ll make sure you never see her!"
Before I could answer, Cole snatched the phone from my hand.
"Listen to me carefully, Whitmore," Cole growled, his voice so dangerously low it made the hair on my arms stand up. "If you ever threaten her or that child again, I will not just bankrupt you. I will buy your debt, foreclose on your life, and make sure your name is synonymous with fraud in every state in this country. Do not call this number again."
He ended the call, throwing the phone onto the table. He turned to me, his eyes softening instantly.
"I’m sorry you had to hear that," Cole said softly.
May you like
"I'm not," I said, looking up at him, feeling a sudden, powerful wave of courage. "I needed to hear it. I needed to realize that he has no power over me anymore. I want to fight back, Cole. I want to show the world the truth."
"Then let's give them the truth," Cole said. "And we’ll do it on the grandest stage possible."
