I hesitated. Letting the wolf into the den was risky. But knowledge was power.
“Five minutes.”
I buzzed her in.
She looked smaller in person, without a podium or a dining table to command. Her expensive coat was buttoned wrong. Her eyes were red-rimmed. She didn’t wait for an invitation, brushing past me into the living room.
“You have to call off your attack dog,” she said, whirling around and dispensing with any pretense.
“Chloe is my lawyer. You’ll have to speak with her.”
“This isn’t about the damn house anymore,” she hissed, her composure cracking. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? That press release. Financial fraud. My husband’s partners are calling him. My friends are whispering. You’re making us look like criminals.”
“Aren’t you?” I asked calmly, leaning against the doorframe and blocking her exit. “The scheme looks pretty criminal-adjacent from where I’m standing.”
“It was a mistake. A stupid legal thing.”
“Daniel’s coworker texts suggest otherwise.”
“What?”
“He seemed to understand it just fine when he was bragging about it to his buddies.”
She flinched as if I had struck her. The information was clearly new to her. Good.
“That’s hearsay. It doesn’t matter.”
She took a step closer, her voice dropping to a venomous whisper.
“What matters is that you stop now, or I will ruin you.”
I almost laughed.
“How? By posting more vague Facebook platitudes? I think we’re past that, Jessica.”
A nasty smile twisted her lips.
“I know things about you, Emily. Things from your past. That little breakdown you had in college. The hospitalization. The medication. What would your fancy architecture firm think if they knew their star designer was unstable? A liability?”
The air left my lungs. My college struggle with severe depression after my parents’ death. My brief voluntary inpatient treatment. It was my most guarded secret. Daniel was the only one I had ever told.
“Daniel told you.”
I whispered it, and the fresh betrayal cut clean through me.
“He tells me everything,” she sneered. “He was worried about you. He’s a good brother. And now I’m worried too. A fragile woman under immense stress, making wild accusations. It’s a tragic story, but people would understand. They’d pity you, and then they’d dismiss every word you say.”
The rage that filled me was cold and clear. It focused me.
“You’re threatening to disclose my private medical history to discredit me professionally if I don’t drop my legal claims.”
“I’m expressing concern for your well-being,” she said, the caring façade slipping grotesquely back into place. “And the well-being of my family. Drop the demands. Take the buyout. Sign the NDA. We can all move on. Your little secret stays safe with me.”
I stared at her, this woman who had just crossed the line from cruel to monstrous. The recording app on my phone was a silent witness inches away.
“You know,” I said, my voice eerily calm, “I’ve been doing some digging too. With all this talk of family finances and obligations, I got curious. Your husband, Paul, he’s a partner at that venture capital firm, right? And you’re the office manager for Wright Holdings, right?”
Her eyes narrowed.
“What’s your point?”
“My point is liquidity. Running a family office. Managing distributions. It’s complex. I had my lawyer look at some recent property filings. The loan against your Lake Forest home was surprisingly large. And then there’s the curious timing of those loans from Daniel’s joint account to you, right before big tax payments were due for Wright Holdings.”
