Daniel stopped talking.
In the background, I could hear Chloe whispering.
Finally, he tried another approach.
“You don’t understand how the company works.”
That one actually made me smile.
My company.
My mother had left me sixty-eight percent of Sterling Global through an irrevocable family trust.
After Daniel and I married, I appointed him Chief Operating Officer.
That had been my choice.
Giving him ownership had not.
Not one voting share had ever been transferred into his name.
Daniel had mistaken my lack of interest in office politics for a lack of authority.
For years, he operated under limited executive authorization that allowed him to manage normal day-to-day business.
But that authorization contained a clause he had always mocked.
If credible financial irregularities surfaced, his authority could be suspended immediately.
When he originally signed it, Daniel had laughed.
“You and your paranoid paperwork.”
That morning, my paperwork closed every door he thought he controlled.
