Chapter 2

Ally Patterson

Jami Stevens, my best friend and the most feared M&A lawyer in Silicon Valley, stared at the marriage certificate I'd placed on her desk. Then she looked at the photos on my phone. Then she looked at me.

He's been doing this for six years, I said. My voice was calm. Clinical. The house is 4.2 million. There's also a car, jewelry, vacations. All funded by company money. Our money.

Jami's jaw tightened. The IPO is in six weeks.

I know.

If this gets out, the valuation tanks. Investors will flee. The board will panic.

I know.

She studied my face. You don't care.

I care about one thing. I leaned forward. I want everything back. Every dollar he spent on her. Every asset he gifted. And I want him to lose Innovatech. Completely.

Jami was silent for a moment. Then she smiled a slow, dangerous smile.

Do you remember the betrayal clause?

I blinked. The what?

Ten years ago. When we were drafting the founding documents. You insisted on a clause that said any partner who engaged in personal misconduct that harmed the company could forfeit their equity. She pulled out a thick binder, flipping through pages. Grayson called it paranoid. Said it was unnecessary. But you made him sign it.

She found the page and turned it toward me. There it was. Clause 14.3. In my own handwriting, from a late-night session when I'd felt a vague unease I couldn't name.

In the event that any founding partner engages in conduct resulting in material reputational or financial harm to the company, including but not limited to fraud, moral turpitude, or actions causing public scandal, the Board may, by majority vote, require forfeiture of up to 100 percent of said partner's equity, to be redistributed among remaining founding partners.

I stared at the words. I had written this. I had protected myself without even knowing it.

Grayson's secret marriage, his embezzlement of company funds for personal luxuries, his public exposure as a fraud this is textbook material harm. Jami's eyes gleamed. Ally, you're about to become the sole owner of Innovatech.

The next week was a blur of legal preparations. Jami worked around the clock. We gathered evidence: bank statements showing transfers to Kacey, property records, the marriage certificate, photos of the mansion. We prepared the board presentation. We lined up media contacts.

I spent hours in Jami's office, going through documents, piecing together the full scope of his betrayal. The transfers had started six years ago small amounts at first, disguised as consulting fees or vendor payments. But over time, they'd grown. By the end, he was moving hundreds of thousands of dollars a month into accounts he controlled, then funneling the money to Kacey.

I found the receipts for her jewelry. Her cars. Her vacations. The 4.2 million dollar house was just the tip of the iceberg. In total, Grayson had diverted nearly twelve million dollars of company money to fund his secret life.

And all the while, he'd been telling me to live frugally. To save. To sacrifice for the future we were building together.

The betrayal wasn't just financial. It was personal. Intimate. Every time he'd told me we couldn't afford a vacation, every time he'd said my desires were frivolous, every time he'd made me feel guilty for wanting a small luxury he was simultaneously writing a check to Kacey for something ten times more expensive.

Grayson called me forty-seven times that week. I answered once.

Ally, please. Let me explain. It's not what it looks like.

It's exactly what it looks like, Grayson.

She trapped me! I never loved her! You're the only one.

How long?

Silence.

Six years, Grayson. You've been lying to me for six years. Telling me to live frugally while you bought her a mansion. Telling me we couldn't afford a wedding while you married her in secret. Telling me my desires were frivolous while you showered her with diamonds.

Ally.

We're done. And Innovatech is mine.

I hung up.