Chapter 7 - SIERRA CAME TO AUDREY
Sierra requested a meeting.
Audrey almost refused.
Naomi said:
“Bring me.”
So they met in Naomi’s office.
Sierra looked nothing like the woman in the red dress.
Gray sweater.
No brooch.
No confidence.
She sat.
“I owe you an apology.”
Audrey waited.
“For the affair.”
Still waited.
“For wearing the brooch.”
Audrey’s face did not change.
Sierra continued:
“I didn’t know it belonged to your grandmother.”
“That does not explain the affair.”
“No.”
Good.
At least she did not try.
---
Then Sierra placed a flash drive on the table.
Naomi did not touch it.
“What is this?”
“Emails and presentations from my company account. My lawyer has copies.”
Good.
No secret theft.
Sierra swallowed.
“Brett told me Audrey was leaving the company after the anniversary.”
Audrey stared.
“He said that?”
“Yes.”
“He said you wanted to focus on family.”
Audrey almost laughed.
“Family.”
“He said Holloway Legacy was how we’d modernize older concepts after your departure.”
“My departure was fictional.”
“I know that now.”
Sierra looked ashamed.
Then:
“He told me you two had been privately separated for almost a year.”
Also false.
Audrey asked:
“And you believed him?”
“I chose to.”
There.
Honest.
“Because it made what you wanted easier.”
“Yes.”
Sierra’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
---
The emails showed something else.
Brett planned to announce Audrey’s “transition to advisory status” after the holiday quarter.
No signed agreement.
No actual consent.
He assumed he could pressure her once the narrative became public.
Create reality first.
Negotiate afterward.
That had been his strategy.
With the marriage too, Audrey realized.
Arrive with Sierra.
Make the affair public.
Then Audrey would be forced to catch up emotionally.
May you like
He had mistaken surprise for power.
---
