Chapter 3 - The Digital Siege
The weeks that followed were a cold, calculated war. While the criminal case moved through the DA’s office, a separate civil battle erupted. Margaret Bellamy was not going to go down without destroying my reputation. She had leaked stories to the press, hinting that I had staged the bruises and forged the evidence against her.
But she had underestimated the depth of my preparation.
I sat in my office in the secure apartment, surrounded by monitors. I wasn't just fighting for my marriage or my company; I was fighting for my survival. I had discovered that Margaret had been siphoning money from Bellamy Medical for years, long before Daniel and I had even met. She had been paying off contractors, bribing local officials to secure city contracts, and burying the evidence in complex shell companies.
"They're coming for the Board," Daniel said, walking into the room with two cups of coffee. He looked exhausted, but his eyes were focused. "Margaret is rallying the minority shareholders. She’s trying to call a vote of no confidence against me, claiming that I’m 'unfit to lead' because of this 'domestic scandal.'"
"She needs a majority to remove you," I said, tapping keys. "She’s currently holding forty-two percent. She needs eight percent more."
"And who has it?"
May you like
"The Pension Fund," I said, smiling for the first time in weeks. "And they have a strict anti-fraud policy. I just sent them the encrypted logs of her illegal withdrawals. They’re voting against her."
The siege was working. I was systematically dismantling her power base, piece by piece, while she was busy trying to frame me for insanity. I was no longer the girl crying in the corner of my own kitchen. I was the architect of their downfall.
