Chapter 6 - The Smear Campaign
By noon, the paparazzi had found us.
It started with one unmarked van parked across the street.
Then came the men with long-lens cameras lingering near the apartment complex gates.
Chloe’s PR machine was ruthlessly efficient.
My face, Valerie’s face, and even a blurred image of Lucy at the airport were plastered across celebrity gossip sites.
BILLIONAIRE HEIR ABANDONS BRIDE FOR FORMER FLAME.
MENTAL BREAKDOWN OR SCANDALOUS AFFAIR?
Valerie paced the small living room, the curtains drawn tight.
"I can't go to work," she said, panic edging into her voice.
"I manage a small bakery downtown."
"If they follow me there, I'll be fired."
"You're not going anywhere today," I said, pacing right alongside her.
"I'll handle the expenses."
"With what money, Carter?" Valerie snapped, the stress finally breaking her composure.
"Your accounts are frozen!"
"You're a billionaire with no cash."
She was right.
I felt incredibly helpless.
For thirty years, money had been my armor.
Now, I was stripped bare.
I walked into the bedroom where Lucy was happily watching a cartoon, completely oblivious to the chaos outside.
I needed leverage.
I needed something my father cared about more than punishing me.
I pulled out my burner phone and started making calls to former colleagues.
Men I had helped.
Men who owed me favors.
Most of them hung up the second they heard my voice, clearly warned by my father.
But one answered.
David, a senior accountant who had worked under me for five years.
"Carter, I really shouldn't be talking to you," David whispered into the phone.
"David, listen to me," I said urgently.
"I need access to the offshore files from the Cayman merger two years ago."
Silence on the line.
"You know what's in those files, David."
"We both do."
"My father hid thirty million dollars in illegal kickbacks to secure that deal."
"If those files go to the SEC, the company is finished."
"He'll go to federal prison."
David sounded terrified.
"Carter, if I get caught..."
"You won't," I promised.
"Just send them to the encrypted email I'm texting you right now."
"Do this for me, Dave, and I'll make sure you're protected when this all blows up."
Five agonizing minutes later, my phone pinged.
The files were in my inbox.
I had the smoking gun.
I walked back into the living room.
Valerie was sitting on the couch, her face buried in her hands.
I sat next to her and gently pulled her hands away from her face.
"I have a plan," I told her.
"But it means playing as dirty as he does."
Valerie looked at me, her dark eyes searching mine.
"Are you sure about this, Carter?"
"Once you do this, you can never go back."
I thought about the man who had threatened the woman I loved.
May you like
I thought about the man who had tried to erase my daughter from existence.
"I never want to go back," I said.
