“And I also came to ask you both a very simple question.”
I looked directly into Mason’s eyes before shifting my gaze to Chloe.
“Would you mind explaining to everyone here why forty-seven thousand dollars for this victory party was approved in nineteen minutes, while nine thousand dollars to keep a three-year-old child alive was denied three times?”
Chloe’s confident expression instantly collapsed into horror, while Mason stared blankly at the folder without touching it.
Before anyone could speak, my phone vibrated in my hand with a new text message from my father.
It read: “We have fully withdrawn our financial backing. Now open the folder to the final page.”
I flipped the heavy folder open to the designated page and scanned the top line, realizing instantly that Daisy’s medication was not the only thing Mason and Chloe had tampered with.
PART 3
“Alyssa, please don’t make a public scene here,” Mason whispered nervously under his breath.
I looked at him calmly, realizing that single sentence perfectly summarized six years of a miserable marriage.
Whenever I complained because money for a medical consultation was delayed, he accused me of making a scene.
Whenever I questioned why Chloe accompanied him on private luxury trips where spouses were excluded, he accused me of making a scene.
Whenever I begged him to visit his sick daughter in the hospital, he accused me of making a scene.
I had needed his permission even to shed tears in my own home.
“I didn’t come here to make a scene,” I said clearly so the surrounding executives could hear every word. “I came here to settle accounts.”
I turned the page and began reading aloud from the formal audit documents.
“Over the past three years, Bennett Enterprises reported over five million dollars in business representation expenses for international contracts. Out of that money, more than two million dollars went directly toward personal luxuries, private trips, and real estate used exclusively by the two of you.”
Chloe’s face drained of all color as she shook her head frantically.
“That is a complete lie!”
“Luxury apartments paid for through shell company vendor accounts, private trips to Milan and Tokyo logged as corporate client meetings, a luxury SUV registered under an empty consulting firm, and high-end jewelry billed as corporate gifts,” I listed without stopping.
Mason reached out to grab the folder from my hand, but I pulled it back effortlessly.
“And last night, while Daisy was dying in intensive care, forty-seven thousand dollars left the company account to pay for this party, that designer dress, and Chloe’s custom jewelry.”
The surrounding guests began looking uncomfortably at their glasses as the atmosphere in the room turned utterly toxic.
Mason turned toward Chloe with a sharp edge in his voice.
“Did you personally refuse the payment for Daisy’s medication?”
Chloe’s eyes widened in panic as she stammered her response.
“That wasn’t how it happened at all! The automated accounting system flagged it because the request exceeded the monthly family allowance cap!”
“You received a direct medical urgency warning from the supplier,” I interrupted, pulling a printed email from the folder. “And here is your exact response.”
Chloe refused to take the paper from my hand, so I read her words out loud for everyone to hear.
“Please await formal authorization from executive management.”
I looked Mason dead in the eye.
“And executive management never bothered to respond.”
Mason clenched his jaw tightly as he tried to defend himself.
“I was in the middle of closing the most important corporate contract of the entire year!”
“Your daughter was dying!” I shouted back.
“I didn’t know it was that serious!” Mason yelled, his loud voice echoing off the high ceilings and making several guests flinch.
A cold wave of disgust washed over me as I looked at the man I had once given up everything to marry.
“I called you forty-seven times throughout the night.”
I pulled out my phone and held the screen up to his face.
“Here are the text messages I sent you. The first one said Daisy has a severe fever and the medicine hasn’t arrived. The fifth one stated that the drug company canceled the delivery due to non-payment. The final message at 2:06 in the morning explicitly said that your daughter was dying.”
I looked up from the screen.
“You read every single one of those messages, Mason.”
Mason stood completely frozen and offered no defense.
Chloe tried to step closer to him, her voice rising in desperation.
“Mason, I followed standard corporate procedure! You cannot possibly blame me just because Alyssa didn’t know how to handle the situation herself!”
I turned to Chloe with a cold stare.
“Handle it? For years, I sold my personal jewelry, my designer bags, and even Daisy’s stroller when she outgrew it just to pay for her medical consultations because you controlled whether my child deserved to pass your family expense filter.”
Chloe lowered her eyes, unable to meet my gaze.
“I had no idea you were selling your personal belongings.”
“Of course you didn’t, because to know that, you would have had to treat us like human beings.”
Mason ran both hands over his pale face in visible distress.
“Alyssa, we can fix all of this. Let’s just go home and talk privately.”
I stared at him in disbelief.
“Home? Daisy is currently lying in a funeral home waiting to be cremated today.”
Mason stopped breathing for a moment as the harsh reality finally cracked through his thick armor of arrogance.
There was no hospital room he could arrive late to this time, no sick child waiting in a bed, and no amount of money that could buy him another chance.
I picked up the tiny pink plastic bead from the table and pushed it toward his chest.
“This toy cost fifty cents from a hospital vending machine, and Daisy called it her lucky star. She was holding it tightly in her hand when her heart stopped.”
Mason looked down at the bead, his lips trembling slightly, but no words came out.
“Do the math, Mason. Forty-seven thousand dollars for a corporate party versus nine thousand dollars to save your daughter’s life. You made your choice on which expense could wait.”
Chloe broke down into loud tears.
“I never wanted the little girl to die!”
“You might not have explicitly wished for her death, but you certainly didn’t care enough to prevent it,” I replied coldly.
Chloe opened her mouth to argue, but suddenly several cell phones across the room began ringing simultaneously.
One tone sounded, then another, followed by several executive phones buzzing at once.
Mason pulled his personal phone from his jacket pocket and answered it with a shaky voice.
“What is it?”
His expression hardened as he listened to the caller.
“They cannot cancel our credit line like that! On what legal clause?”
He looked over at me, but I offered no reaction whatsoever.
My father had not destroyed Bennett Enterprises with a single aggressive blow; he had simply stopped shielding it from reality.
The Stone family withdrew their guarantee on two major commercial loans, exercised their legal right to exit a primary investment fund, and handed the independent audit directly to the board of directors.
Without our family’s backing, every bank, partner, and creditor immediately began scrutinizing the company’s books.
Mason ended the call, only for his phone to ring again seconds later.
“Alyssa, what did your father just do?”
“He did nothing more than exercise his legal rights,” I answered smoothly.
“They are going to freeze all of our operational funding!”
“Then you will have to sustain your business using your own real numbers for once.”
Mason glared at me as if I were the one who had committed an unforgivable betrayal.
“You knew this financial collapse would happen if he pulled out!”
“I knew nothing about his files until this morning,” I replied.
“Then call him right now and tell him to stop this!”
I looked at him with profound sadness and pity.
“Our daughter stopped breathing three hours ago, and your immediate reaction was to ask me to sign a organ donation form because you were thinking about Chloe’s medical issue.”
Mason turned deathly pale as several nearby executives gasped in shock.
“What donation form?” one board member asked in confusion.
Chloe stammered defensively, her voice squeaking with panic.
“I had a severe medical complication with my eye!”
I pulled one final document from the black leather folder.
“That medical issue is quite interesting as well.”
Chloe stood completely still as I looked down at the official medical record.
“Your alleged workplace injury did not occur while working late for the company.”
“Yes it did!” Chloe protested desperately.
“No, it did not,” I corrected her firmly. “Three days ago, you underwent an elective cosmetic eye procedure at a private surgical center. When complications arose from the surgery, you submitted a fraudulent workers’ compensation claim stating the injury was caused by screen strain during a company project.”
Chloe took a step back as the room gasped again.
“That is confidential private medical information!”
“The forensic accounting team discovered that the cosmetic clinic was paid using a corporate credit card and logged as an external consulting fee,” I explained.
Mason turned around and stared at Chloe in complete disbelief.
“You had elective cosmetic surgery?”
Chloe began talking rapidly, her words tumbling over one another.
“It was just a minor cosmetic procedure! The surgeon guaranteed there wouldn’t be any issues, but then complications happened and I panicked!”
“And you lied to me, telling me you damaged your eye working overtime for my company?” Mason asked, his voice hollow.
“I was terrified of losing my position!” she sobbed.
Mason let out a cold, empty laugh as he finally realized how completely he had been manipulated by the woman he trusted over his own wife.
Watching him discover the truth brought me no joy or satisfaction because none of it could bring Daisy back to life.
I closed the heavy folder with a firm snap.
“My legal counsel will handle all future communication. The complete audit will be turned over to the board and federal regulatory authorities. I have nothing more to say to either of you.”
Mason chased after me as I walked out of the banquet hall toward the elevators.
“Alyssa, wait!”
I did not slow down my pace.
“Alyssa, stop!”
