Chapter 4 - Playing The Submissive Wife
“We take this to the police right now,” Robert said, slamming his hand on the desk.
“Wire fraud, embezzlement, conspiracy. I can have David in handcuffs by dinner.”
I looked at the screen. I looked at the names of the people who had treated me like a bank.
I remembered the sting of David’s hand on my face.
“No,” I said.
Robert looked at me, confused. “Claire, this is criminal.”
“I know it is,” I replied, standing up. “But if we arrest him now, Martha and his siblings will scramble. They’ll hide the offshore money.”
I looked Robert dead in the eye.
“I want to destroy them. All of them. Simultaneously. I want them to lose everything.”
Robert smiled, a predatory gleam in his eye. “What do you have in mind?”
For the next three weeks, I played the most difficult role of my life: the submissive, broken wife.
I went back home.
I apologized to David for my "outburst."
I even transferred the $15,000 to Martha, just as he demanded.
David soaked it up. His ego was so massive he genuinely believed he had broken my spirit with a single slap.
“See? It’s better when you just listen,” he told me one night, kissing my forehead.
It took everything in me not to vomit on his shoes.
Meanwhile, Robert was moving mountains behind the scenes.
He hired a team of asset recovery specialists.
They traced the offshore accounts to the Cayman Islands and Switzerland.
We filed a massive civil RICO lawsuit under seal, targeting not just David, but Martha, Kevin, and Sarah.
We also drafted the divorce papers.
I made sure every single asset I brought into the marriage was locked into ironclad trusts.
I was silently pulling up the drawbridge, and the enemy was still feasting inside my castle walls.
David thought he was preparing for Phase Two.
He didn't know I was already at Endgame.
Martha called one afternoon, her tone sickeningly sweet.
“Claire, darling! We are hosting a big family dinner on Friday at my house. You must come.”
I knew exactly what this was.
David had mentioned he wanted me to "invest" in his brother’s new commercial real estate venture.
May you like
They were going to ambush me for a massive lump sum of cash.
“I’ll be there, Martha,” I smiled into the phone. “I have a big surprise for the family.”
