Chapter 13 - The Price of Anger
For the first time, Lauren believed she could win.
That was when she became careless.
She drove to Margaret’s townhouse.
The order of protection prohibited Margaret from approaching Mia or the Bennett home.
It did not prohibit Lauren from visiting Margaret.
Daniel tried to stop her.
“Do not go.”
“I need to hear her say why.”
“You have recordings.”
“I need her to look at me.”
“That is not evidence. That is revenge.”
Lauren hung up.
Margaret opened the townhouse door wearing black trousers and no makeup.
For a moment, she looked older than Lauren had ever seen her.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“I heard the recordings.”
Margaret’s eyes changed.
“So the police shared privileged marital conversations?”
“They were Thomas’s recordings.”
“Then Thomas was spying on me.”
“You terrorized Mia.”
Margaret looked away.
“Do not pretend this was about discipline.”
“She saw things.”
Lauren felt the words like a physical blow.
“You admit it.”
“I admit she was an uncontrollable child who wandered into rooms.”
“She was five.”
“She repeated everything.”
“So you hit her.”
Margaret’s voice sharpened.
“I scared her.”
“You slapped her.”
“Yes.”
“You locked her in a pantry.”
Margaret said nothing.
“You dragged her into mud.”
“She had to understand consequences.”
Lauren stepped closer.
“No. You needed a six-year-old to carry your fear.”
Margaret’s face hardened.
“You know nothing about fear.”
“My father knew.”
“Your father was weak.”
“He caught you stealing.”
“He caught Richard.”
“And you protected him.”
Margaret’s eyes flashed.
“You think your father built HRG alone? I sat beside him when we had one employee and a rented office. I negotiated leases while pregnant with you. I entertained bankers who ignored me and shook his hand. I worked thirty years and watched him put everything in your name.”
“Not everything.”
Margaret laughed bitterly.
“Mia’s ten percent. Yes. His final insult.”
Lauren finally understood.
“You hated that she inherited something you couldn’t control.”
“I hated being erased.”
“So you punished a child?”
“I taught her not to interfere.”
Lauren’s restraint broke.
“You are a monster.”
Margaret smiled.
“And you are exactly like me when you’re angry.”
Lauren froze.
Margaret stepped closer.
“You hit me on the lawn.”
“I stopped you from hurting my daughter.”
“You hit first and thought later.”
Lauren remembered Daniel’s warning.
Margaret continued.
“You came here alone even though every lawyer around you told you not to. Why?”
Lauren said nothing.
“Because you wanted me frightened.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Margaret’s smile grew.
“And now I am.”
Lauren saw the phone on the bookshelf.
Its camera faced them.
Recording.
Lauren stepped backward.
Margaret said softly, “Thank you for visiting.”
Lauren left.
Within hours, Margaret’s attorneys filed an edited clip with the HRG ethics committee.
Lauren could be heard saying:
“You are a monster.”
Then:
“I stopped you.”
Then Margaret’s voice:
“You came here because you wanted me frightened.”
The rest had been cut.
It was manipulation, but it was effective.
Lauren’s own decision had supplied the material.
Warren called her.
“What were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t.”
“Exactly.”
The ethics committee accelerated its review.
The board’s permanent-removal vote remained scheduled.
Worse, Margaret petitioned the court for a civil protective order against Lauren, citing the slap, the threatening text, and the townhouse confrontation.
The petition was not automatically granted, but the filing generated another wave of headlines.
Daniel came to the mansion that night.
Lauren let him in.
He did not say I told you so.
That almost made it worse.
“I keep giving her weapons,” Lauren said.
“Yes.”
“You could lie.”
“You asked me to stop doing that.”
She looked at him.
“You remembered.”
“I remember everything I did wrong now.”
They sat in silence.
Upstairs, Mia was sleeping.
Lauren said, “Why are you still helping me?”
Daniel looked surprised.
“You’re my wife.”
“I threw you out.”
“You had reason.”
“I may never trust you again.”
“I know.”
“That doesn’t answer me.”
He looked toward the ceiling, toward Mia’s room.
“Because loving you is not something I get to stop doing just because I failed you.”
Lauren’s eyes burned.
Before she could answer, Daniel’s phone rang.
Priya.
He put it on speaker.
“I found Richard’s leverage,” Priya said.
“What leverage?” Lauren asked.
“Why Margaret kept paying him.”
She sent a document.
A private ledger maintained by Richard.
It listed false invoices, transfer amounts, dates, and initials.
M.H.
R.C.
But beside three transactions was another set of initials.
D.B.
Lauren slowly turned toward Daniel.
He looked horrified.
“That’s not me.”
Priya said, “I know.”
“How?”
“The dates predate your involvement.”
“Then who is D.B.?”
Priya answered.
“David Barlow.”
Lauren knew the name.
HRG’s chief financial officer.
May you like
A man who still worked inside the company.
A man who had voted to suspend her.
