Chapter 157
Chapter 157
Penelope’s POV
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56 мрестиета
Penelope stood in front of her bedroom mirror and smiled at her reflection. Everything was finally coming together.
I built this shit, me, brick by brick, she said to her reflection in the mirror.
Tomorrow’s shareholder meeting would be her masterpiece. The culmination of years of careful planning, patient manipulation, and strategic strikes at exactly the right moments. By this time tomorrow, Marcus would be stripped of his position and she would have control of Thorne Dynamics.
She walked over to her desk where three folders sat waiting. Red, blue, and black. Each one containing a different piece of ammunition.
The red folder held the financial evidence. Marcus’s supposed fraud, the doctored reports that Gerald had planted, the offshore accounts that didn’t actually exist but looked damning as hell on paper. The board would see numbers that didn’t add up and immediately question his competence.
The blue folder was more personal. Photos of Marcus and Aurora at the hotel, looking every bit like a man cheating on his pregnant wife. She had copies of the text messages Aurora had sent Marcus over the past few weeks, carefully edited to remove context and make them seem more intimate than they were. There were even a few voice recordings of conversations that could be interpreted as romantic if you didn’t know the full
story.
But the black folder was her favorite. That’s where she kept the real weapons.
Penelope opened it and spread the contents across her desk. The security footage from the fire escape showing Marcus and Elara in a moment that should have been private. The medical records proving Elara was already pregnant before the wedding. The contract itself with Marcus’s signature and the payment schedule clearly visible.
And best of all, the cash receipt. The one piece of physical evidence that tied everything together and proved beyond doubt that their marriage had started as a business transaction.
Penelope had worked hard to get that receipt. Had paid one of Marcus’s housekeepers a small fortune to go through Elara’s things and find it. The girl had been nervous about stealing but Penelope had convinced her it wasn’t really stealing if the item belonged to Marcus anyway.
She picked up the receipt now and held it to the light. Fifty thousand dollars cash paid to Elara Vance on the same day she’d signed the marriage contract. Marcus’s handwriting on the memo line: As agreed.
Perfect. Absolutely perfect.
Penelope imagined the looks on their faces tomorrow when she presented all of this to the board. The shock, the denial, the desperate attempts to explain it away. She’d watched Marcus handle corporate crises before and he was usually so calm, so controlled.
But this wasn’t a corporate crisis. This was personal. This would destroy him.
17:01 Mon, May 11 M
Chapter 157
Her phone rang and she saw Luca’s name on the screen. She answered immediately.
“Tell me you have good news.”
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“I have the final set of documents you asked for,” Luca said. “The ones showing Elara’s mother’s hospital bills and the payment dates. It lines up perfectly with when Marcus gave her the money.”
“Excellent. Bring them to my office in an hour. I want everything organized before tomorrow.”
“About tomorrow.” Luca’s voice changed slightly, became more cautious. “Are you sure this is going to work? Marcus isn’t an idiot. He’s going to fight back.”
“Let him fight. He’s already drowning in scandals. The sex tape, the hotel photos with Aurora, the allegations of financial fraud. Even if he denies everything tomorrow, the damage is done. The board members are already questioning his judgment.”
“And if he brings up the contract marriage?”
“Then we show them the evidence that proves it. We show them he married a woman he barely knew in exchange for her silence about being pregnant with his illegitimate children. We show them he paid her off. manipulated her, and then tried to pass it off as a real relationship.”
“You’re making him sound like a villain.”
Penelope laughed. “That’s the point, Luca. By the time I’m done tomorrow, Marcus will look like a lying, cheating fraud who used a vulnerable woman for his own gain. The board will have no choice but to remove him.”
“What about Elara? She could testify that the marriage became real.”
“She’s about to have emergency surgery for her high-risk pregnancy. Do you really think she’s going to be in any condition to defend Marcus? And even if she tries, we have documentation proving the relationship started as a transaction. Love might have developed later but that doesn’t change the foundation it was built on.”
Luca was quiet for a moment. “I still think you’re underestimating him.”
“I’m not underestimating anyone. I’m just finally making my move after years of waiting. Marcus had his chance to keep this company. He chose to waste it on emotional entanglements and poor decisions.”
Penelope walked back to her mirror and adjusted the collar of her blouse. She wanted to look professional tomorrow. Concerned but firm. Like someone who was reluctantly doing what needed to be done for the good of the company.
“Is Aurora still cooperating?” Penelope asked.
“As far as I know. She got paid for the hotel photos and she’s desperate enough for money that she won’t jeopardize her deal with us.”
“Good. Make sure she stays away from Marcus until after the meeting. I don’t want her getting cold feet and confessing something at the last minute.”
17:02 Mon, May 11 M…
Chapter 157
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“She’s staying at a hotel in Brooklyn. No contact with anyone from Thorne Dynamics.”
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Penelope ended the call and poured herself a glass of wine. Tomorrow was going to be glorious. She’d spent so long playing the role of the supportive stepmother, the grieving widow, the concerned shareholder. Always in the background, always careful not to show her hand too soon.
But tomorrow she would step into the light and take what should have been hers all along.
Her husband had left her a fraction of what she deserved in his will. Had tied up his fortune in trusts and conditions that favored Marcus above everyone else. He’d made Penelope beg for every dollar, made her justify every expense, treated her like a child who couldn’t be trusted with money.
Well, tomorrow she would show them all exactly how capable she was.
She thought about Marcus’s mother and felt a small flicker of something that might have been guilt if Penelope allowed herself to feel such things. That night fifteen years ago hadn’t been planned. She’d been drinking, driving too fast, not paying attention. The woman had stepped into the crosswalk and Penelope had reacted too late.
The impact had been sickening. The sound of it. The way the body had crumpled.
Penelope had stopped for just a moment, her hands shaking on the steering wheel. She’d looked in the rearview mirror and seen the woman lying in the street, not moving.
And then she’d driven away.
Because what else could she do? Getting caught meant losing everything. Prison, scandal, her entire future destroyed over one moment of carelessness.
So she’d run. Had her car fixed, changed her name, disappeared for a few months. And when she’d come back to New York and seen Richard Thorne’s photo in a business magazine, looking devastated and lost after his wife’s sudden death, Penelope had seen an opportunity.
She’d researched him, learned his patterns, engineered a meeting. She’d been exactly what he needed at exactly the right time.
And she’d been playing that role ever since.
But not anymore. Tomorrow the game ended and Penelope would finally claim her prize.
Her phone buzzed with another call from Luca. She answered impatiently. “What now?”
“We have a problem.” Luca’s voice was tight with barely controlled panic. “Aurora’s talking to Marcus’s lawyers.”
Penelope’s wine glass froze halfway to her lips. “What?”
“I just got word from my contact at Dante’s firm. Aurora showed up there this morning and she’s been in a conference room with Dante and his team for hours. They’re recording everything.”
The wine glass slipped from Penelope’s fingers and shattered on the floor.
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