Chapter 2 - The Devil's Ransom
The elevator doors slid shut, leaving me gasping for air as if Garrett had punched me in the chest.
My father instantly pulled out his phone, dialing his elite team of corporate lawyers before I could even process the threat.
"He is bluffing, Claire," my father said, wrapping a strong, comforting arm around my trembling shoulders.
"No court in this country will give that monster control over my grandson's remains."
But deep down, my years as an ER nurse had taught me that the law rarely cared about what was morally right.
Garrett was legally my husband, and until a judge declared otherwise, he held terrifying power over Ethan's final arrangements.
By sunrise, the legal notices began flooding into my father’s private penthouse.
Garrett had officially filed an emergency injunction blocking the hospital from releasing Ethan's body to anyone but him.
I sat on the velvet sofa, clutching Ethan’s stuffed elephant, Captain Ellie, while my father paced the floor in a furious rage.
"He wants a ransom," my father growled, reading the latest email from Garrett's sleazy attorney.
"He says he will sign over custody of the remains if I give him forty percent of Sterling Global Industries."
My stomach turned at the thought of using my beautiful boy as a bargaining chip for corporate shares.
"We cannot let him win, Dad," I whispered, holding the little plush elephant tighter against my chest.
"We won't," my father promised, slamming his laptop shut.
"I am going to destroy his entire life and find out exactly who this Melissa woman is."
Two hours later, my father's private investigator sent over a heavily encrypted file regarding Garrett's mistress.
I opened the document, expecting to see pictures of a random hotel concierge or a naive secretary.
Instead, a chilling professional headshot of a ruthless woman filled the screen.
Melissa was not just a random fling.
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She was the ruthless Chief Financial Officer of our biggest corporate rival, Apex Medical.
And according to the investigator's timestamped logs, she had successfully downloaded Sterling Global's most classified research files from Garrett’s phone during their hotel rendezvous.
