“The patents.”
“I know.”
“My connections. My reputation. My family.”
“I know.”
I laughed bitterly.
“And he still thinks I’m nothing.”
My father set his glass down.
“That’s because you made one mistake.”
“What?”
“You hid your power so well that he eventually believed you didn’t have any.”
I stared at him.
Then he opened a drawer in his desk.
Inside was a thick black folder.
He slid it toward me.
My name was printed on the cover.
Not Alyssa Prescott.
Just:
ALYSSA VALE — CONTROLLING INTERESTS
My breathing slowed.
I opened it.
The first page listed companies.
The second, trusts.
The third, intellectual property.
The fourth, voting rights.
I flipped another page.
Then another.
My hands started to shake.
“Dad…”
He didn’t answer.
I looked up.
“How much of Prescott Technologies do I actually own?”
He held my gaze.
“Enough.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No.”
He leaned forward.
“So I’ll give you the real one.”
He tapped one finger on the final page.
“On paper, Aaron Prescott is the founder and CEO.”
My eyes moved down the page.
“Behind the scenes, you control the majority of the voting structure.”
Silence.
I leaned back.
“Which means that although everyone calls you the founder…”
I paused.
“I control the company.”
Aaron’s mother would have stood abruptly, except she wasn’t here — I was at my father’s house.
Wait — no, I’m picturing the scene wrong; my father continued.
“There is more.”
My eyes lifted.
“What more?”
He reached for another envelope.
“This came to us yesterday.”
He handed it over.
I opened it.
A photograph.
Jasmine.
Standing outside a private building in Zurich.
Beside her, a man I recognized.
Aaron’s former business partner.
The one who’d supposedly vanished from the company three years earlier after a bitter falling-out.
I checked the date.
Three days earlier.
My heart started pounding.
“That’s impossible.”
“No,” my father said.
“It’s very possible.”
I turned the photo over.
A handwritten note on the back.
Six words.
She didn’t come here for Aaron.
I stared at it.
My father watched me closely.
“There’s one more thing.”
“What?”
He hesitated.
Then said:
“Jasmine has been investigating you.”
A cold wave ran down my spine.
“Why?”
“We don’t know.”
“Then find out.”
“We already tried.”
“And?”
My father’s face darkened.
“We found out Jasmine isn’t her real name.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She changed her identity seven years ago.”
“Why?”
“We don’t know.”
I looked back at the photograph.
For the first time, the woman who’d taken my seat on the jet didn’t look like a foolish secretary trying to seduce my husband.
She looked like something else.
Someone who’d walked into our lives with a purpose.
And suddenly the humiliating scene on the plane felt different.
Maybe Jasmine hadn’t taken my seat because she wanted Aaron.
Maybe she wanted me gone.
Maybe she’d known exactly what would happen.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Nothing.
Just breathing.
Then a woman’s voice whispered:
“Alyssa…”
I went completely still.
The voice went on.
“If you want to know why Jasmine really came into your husband’s company…”
A pause.
“Look at the original patent files.”
My blood ran cold.
“Who are you?”
The caller ignored the question.
Then she said something that made my knees weaken.
“Your husband didn’t build Prescott Technologies.”
I gripped the edge of the desk.
“What did you say?”
“He stole it.”
The line went dead.
I stared at my phone.
My father rose slowly.
“What happened?”
I looked at him.
Then at the black folder.
Then at the photo of Jasmine.
And finally at the thirteen patents that had once pulled Aaron’s company back from the edge.
For four years I’d believed my worst mistake was loving the wrong man.
But staring at those documents, a far more terrifying thought crept in.
What if Aaron hadn’t just taken advantage of me?
What if the entire empire I’d helped build…
had been built on a lie?
And what if I wasn’t the only one who’d been betrayed?
I closed the folder.
My tears were gone.
So was my fear.
Only one thing was left.
The truth.
And tomorrow morning, I was going back to Prescott Technologies.
Not as Aaron Prescott’s wife.
Not as the spoiled socialite everyone assumed I was.
I was going back as the woman who owned the secrets his entire empire had been built on.
And this time…
I wasn’t knocking.
Part 3 — The Empire Was Never His
The next morning, I walked into Prescott Technologies at exactly eight o’clock.
No warning.
No assistant.
No entourage.
Just me.
The receptionist looked up and froze instantly.
Whispers spread across the lobby.
People stared.
Some looked embarrassed.
Others looked amused.
I knew exactly what they were thinking.
She came back.
She couldn’t stay away.
She’s here to apologize.
I almost smiled.
They were still underestimating me.
The elevator doors opened.
I stepped in.
“Executive floor,” I said.
The receptionist hesitated.
Then pressed the button.
As the doors closed, I caught my reflection in the polished metal.
Yesterday, I’d walked off that jet as a wife who’d finally realized she was unwanted.
Today, I was walking into my husband’s company as its majority shareholder.
And I’d come for one thing.
The truth.
The executive conference room was already full.
Aaron sat at the head of the table.
His mother beside him.
Jasmine on his other side.
Several board members present.
The moment I stepped in, every conversation stopped.
Aaron looked up.
For half a second, surprise crossed his face.
Then the arrogance came right back.
“Alyssa.”
I pulled out a chair.
“Good morning.”
His mother scoffed.
“Do you really think this is appropriate after the embarrassment you caused yesterday?”
I looked at her.
“Yesterday?”
She nodded.
“You walked off a plane in front of the entire executive team.”
“I remember.”
“You humiliated Aaron.”
I smiled.
“No.”
I set a black folder on the table.For illustrative purposes only
“I haven’t humiliated Aaron yet.”
The room went silent.
Aaron’s expression shifted.
“What is that?”
“You’ll find out.”
He reached for it.
I put my hand over the folder.
“Not yet.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Alyssa, don’t play games.”
I leaned back.
“For four years, Aaron, I did exactly what you wanted.”
See more on the next page