What She Overheard in Her Own Marriage novel Chapter 115

Silas let out a faint, dismissive scoff. He walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I was just stating the facts. You work for me now. If I can't even protect my own lead engineer from getting dragged through the mud, then I'm a completely useless boss."

Kaia looked at his back and murmured, "I know. Either way, thank you."

Silas glanced over his shoulder at her, hesitating for a moment. Finally, he gave a rueful smile. "Don't give me too much credit. I'm just protecting my investment. But seriously... you shouldn't be sitting in a gilded cage making excuses for the man holding the key."

His words struck Kaia like a physical blow.

"I know," she whispered, a sudden, suffocating wave of exhaustion washing over her.

Six days had passed since Pearl and Chloe had ambushed Noelle. Noelle had finally made her decision.

She arranged the meeting at an exclusive private club downtown, the floor-to-ceiling windows offering a panoramic view of the city skyline.

Pearl and her husband, David Shaw, arrived half an hour early. With their company's cash flow bleeding out and debt collectors circling, the couple was visibly trembling with anxiety.

They sat stiffly on the sofa, constantly checking the door.

When Noelle finally walked in, they both shot to their feet instantly.

Noelle moved with a chilled, lethal elegance that commanded the room. She wore a tailored pale blue suit and a watch worth over a million dollars. She didn't need flashy jewelry; her absolute control over the room was enough.

"Noelle, this is David. David Shaw," Pearl rushed to introduce him, her voice thick with desperation.

"No... Ms. Lawrence. It's an honor." David wanted to play the doting stepfather, but one look at Noelle's dead-eyed, merciless expression made him swallow the familiarity.

"Sit," Noelle commanded softly. She took the seat at the head of the table and waved off the server, indicating they would pour their own tea.

Her icy detachment made Pearl's stomach twist.

"I reviewed the financials you brought last time. I also had my own analysts run the numbers," Noelle began, her tone strictly business. "Let's cut to the chase. How much capital do you need right now to clear the immediate debt and settle the pending lawsuits?"

David and Pearl's faces lit up with frantic hope. They scrambled to pull out their ledgers and blurted out a figure.

Noelle frowned. Clearly, the number wasn't sitting well with her.

Seeing her frown, Pearl panicked and started talking a mile a minute. "Noelle, some of these loans have astronomical interest rates, and if we don't pay off the raw material suppliers immediately, the whole supply chain freezes..."

"Sign the papers. The funds will clear within a week, and I'll make the calls to get the suppliers off your back. Oh, and one more thing," Noelle added casually. "Put a leash on your daughter. If her mouth causes a problem for me, your company will burn with her."

David looked thoroughly defeated as he stared at the equity transfer clause. He had clawed his way up from a petty contractor to the owner of a mid-sized firm, only to hand the keys to his empire over to a girl who despised him.

Once the ink was dry, Noelle packed the documents into her briefcase and stood up. "My transition team will arrive on Monday. Be ready to hand over the keys."

As she walked toward the elevator, Pearl chased after her, desperately wanting to grab her arm but too terrified to actually make contact. "Noelle, thank you. Thank you so much. I am so, so happy I found you again."

Noelle looked at her. She hated the woman, but a useful pawn was a useful pawn. "Just fix the mess at the company. We'll deal with the rest later."

On the fifteenth day of the New Year, the Sanders family gathered for dinner at the estate. After the meal, Josephine summoned Finnian to her private study.

"A whistleblower report targeting Kaia magically originates from Aethelstan, and you sweep it under the rug as the 'isolated action of a project manager'?" Josephine didn't raise her voice, but there was zero trace of senility in her sharp, commanding tone. "Finnian. Your grandfather is gone. Your father is gone. Now Rafael is gone. The weight of this family rests entirely on your shoulders. Do you really think you are invincible? Do you think you're so untouchable that you can just ignore it when someone is stabbing your own wife in the back?"

Finnian stood tall, his handsome features perfectly still. "Grandmother, Aethelstan's internal audit followed every legal and corporate protocol. The outcome was sound."

"Sound?" Josephine threw her prayer beads onto the table with a sharp clatter. "If the investigation was so bulletproof, why did Silas drag you over the coals in front of the entire board? You think you can just close the door and make the rules? If you don't shut down these rumors, our partners will start thinking the Sanders Conglomerate is rotting from the inside out. That affects the bottom line."