“What else?” I asked.
She turned another page. “His company, Vale Capital Partners. You were listed as a silent equity partner in the original incorporation documents. Did you know that?”
“He asked me to sign something the first year we were married. He said it was a formality.”
“It was not a formality.” Diana’s voice was very level. “You hold an eleven percent equity stake in a firm currently valued at approximately forty-two million dollars.”
The room was quiet except for the sound of my sons breathing.
“He forgot,” I said slowly.
“Or he assumed you wouldn’t look.” She closed the folder. “He was counting on your grief making you small. People do that. They mistake pain for weakness. It is, in my experience, their most consistent error.”
Adrian’s second mistake came on a Thursday.
He held a press event.
He and Celeste appeared at the opening of a rooftop restaurant in the financial district, photographed in the blue evening light. She wore a cream dress. He wore his confidence like a second suit. The caption on the society column read: Adrian Vale and companion celebrate a new chapter.
