For the first time in their marriage, she felt like she had power. She wasn’t just reacting to Alexander’s choices anymore.
She was making her own.
Her phone buzzed softly on the nightstand.
A text message from an unknown number.
This is Tom Mitchell. Can you talk tomorrow?
I have information you need to see.
Sarah deleted the message and closed her eyes, a smile playing at her lips.
Phase one of her plan was complete.
Alexander still had no idea that anything had changed.
He was sleeping peacefully beside her, probably dreaming about his future with Rebecca and all the money he thought he was going to steal.
Let him dream, Sarah thought.
In less than two weeks, he would wake up to a nightmare of his own making.
The next morning, Sarah waited until Alexander left for work before calling Tom Mitchell. She’d barely slept, her mind racing with questions about what the private investigator might have discovered about Rebecca.
“Sarah, thanks for calling back,” Tom’s gravelly voice came through clearly. “I’ve got good news and bad news about Rebecca Santos.
Which do you want first?”
“Give me the bad news,” Sarah said, settling into her father’s leather chair with a cup of coffee.
“The bad news is that she’s even worse than we thought. The good news is that her husband has no idea, which gives us leverage.”
Sarah’s pulse quickened.
“What did you find?”
“Rebecca Santos isn’t just cheating on her husband with Alexander. She’s been running a side business as an escort for the past two years.
High-end stuff. She charges five thousand a night to wealthy men who want arm candy for business events.”
Sarah nearly dropped her coffee.
“An escort?”
“It gets better,” Tom said. “She’s been using her job at Meridian Tech to recruit clients.
Several of the company’s biggest clients have paid for her services. She’s essentially been prostituting herself using company connections.”
“Does Alexander know?”
“Hard to say for sure, but I don’t think so,” Tom said. “From what I can tell, he thinks he’s her only affair.
Poor bastard has no idea he’s just another client—except he’s getting it for free.”
Sarah felt a mixture of disgust and satisfaction.
Rebecca had been playing Alexander just as much as Alexander had been playing her.
There was a certain poetic justice in that.
“What about her husband?”
“Marcus Santos, thirty-four, works as a teacher at Lincoln High School. Clean record, no debt, volunteers at a homeless shelter on weekends. Guy’s a saint, which makes this even worse.
They’ve been married for six years. No kids—but not by choice. They’ve been trying for three years and doing fertility treatments.”
Sarah’s satisfaction dimmed slightly.
Marcus sounded like a genuinely good person who didn’t deserve any of this.
But Rebecca had made her choices, and those choices had consequences.
“I need copies of everything,” Sarah said. “Photos, financial records, client lists—all of it.”
“Already prepared. I can have it to you this afternoon.
But, Sarah, be careful how you use this information. Some of Rebecca’s clients are very powerful men who wouldn’t appreciate being exposed.”
“I’m not planning to expose them,” Sarah said. “I just want Rebecca and Alexander to face consequences for what they’ve done.”
“Fair enough.
I’ll drop everything off at Janet Williams’ office this afternoon. You should review it with her before deciding how to proceed.”
After hanging up with Tom, Sarah called Janet Williams.
“Perfect timing,” Janet said when Sarah explained about Tom’s discoveries. “I’ve been making progress on our other fronts.
Are you free this afternoon? I think it’s time you met the rest of your team.”
“My team?” Sarah repeated.
“Sarah, you’re about to execute a complex operation involving multiple companies, properties, and legal maneuvers,” Janet said. “You need professionals who understand how to coordinate all of this without leaving you vulnerable to lawsuits or criminal charges.”
Two hours later, Sarah found herself in Janet’s conference room facing three people she’d never met, but who apparently held the keys to her revenge.
“Sarah, I’d like you to meet Patricia Chin—no relation.
Despite the name, she’s a forensic accountant who specializes in corporate fraud investigations.”
Janet gestured to the person beside her.
“Next to her is Michael Rodriguez, who handles corporate security and employee investigations for Meridian Tech. And this is Dr. Elizabeth Harper, a psychologist who consults on high-stakes divorce cases.”
Sarah shook hands with each of them, feeling slightly overwhelmed.
“This seems like a lot of people for a simple divorce.”
“This isn’t a simple divorce anymore,” Janet said gently.
“Based on Tom’s findings, we’re looking at potential criminal charges against Rebecca for prostitution and fraud. Alexander could be charged as an accessory if he knew about her escort business. And there are corporate liability issues at Meridian Tech that could affect dozens of employees.”
“I don’t want to hurt innocent people,” Sarah said quickly.
“That’s exactly why we need this team,” Dr.
Harper said, her voice warm and reassuring. “We want to make sure the consequences fall on the people who actually deserve them.”
Dr. Harper’s eyes held Sarah’s.
“But Sarah, you need to understand something.
Once we start this process, there’s no going back. Are you absolutely sure this is what you want?”
Sarah thought about Alexander’s arms around her last night. His convincing performance as the loving husband.
Rebecca’s laugh in their bedroom. Six months of lies while she grieved her father’s illness.
“I’m sure.”
Patricia Chin leaned forward.
“Then let’s talk strategy. I’ve reviewed Tom’s evidence against Rebecca, and it’s damning.
She’s been evading taxes on her escort income, which is a federal crime. She’s also been using her company email to arrange meetings with clients, which puts Meridian Tech at risk for harboring prostitution.”
“What does that mean practically?” Sarah asked.
Michael Rodriguez answered.
“It means Rebecca will be fired immediately when this comes to light. But more than that, she’ll likely face criminal charges.
Tax evasion alone could get her five years in federal prison.”
Sarah felt a chill.
She’d wanted Rebecca to face consequences, but prison seemed harsh.
Then she remembered Rebecca planning to help Alexander steal her inheritance.
The sympathy faded.
“What about Alexander?” Sarah asked.
“That’s trickier,” Janet said. “We have evidence of his affair and his plans to divorce you for financial gain, but that’s not criminal. However, if he knew about Rebecca’s escort business and didn’t report it, he could be charged as an accessory.”
“Do we think he knew?” Sarah asked.
“Based on Tom’s investigation, probably not,” Michael said.
“Alexander seems to genuinely believe he’s Rebecca’s only affair, which is almost funny considering how he’s been deceiving you.”
Dr. Harper spoke up.
“Sarah, I want you to think carefully about what you really want to achieve here. Do you want Alexander to go to prison, or do you just want him to understand what it feels like to be betrayed and abandoned?”
It was a good question.
Sarah realized she didn’t actually want Alexander in prison.
She just wanted him to hurt the way she was hurting.
She wanted him to feel powerless and betrayed and stupid for trusting someone who was using him.
“I want him to lose everything he thinks he’s gained from betraying me,” Sarah said finally. “His job. His mistress.
His plans for our money.”
Her voice hardened.
“I want him to realize that he threw away a real marriage for someone who was using him just as much as he was using me.”
“That we can definitely arrange,” Janet said with satisfaction. “Patricia, show her the corporate structure.”
Patricia spread several charts across the conference table.
“Your father was even more clever than we initially realized. He didn’t just own twelve percent of Meridian Tech.
He owned it through a shell company that also holds shares in three of Meridian’s biggest competitors. As the new owner of that shell company, you have significant influence over Alexander’s entire industry.”
Sarah stared at the charts, amazed.
“You mean I could get him blacklisted from other companies too?”
“Not blacklisted exactly,” Patricia said, “but your influence could make it very difficult for him to find equivalent employment in Portland. Most of the major tech companies in the city have business relationships that you now have a stake in.”
“Here’s what I propose,” Janet said.
“We coordinate everything to happen on the same day.”
Janet’s voice stayed calm, as if she were discussing a calendar invite.
