CHAP 13 — SEVENTY-TWO HOURS
The Northstar closing was scheduled for Monday.
Seventy-two hours.
If regulators did not intervene, hundreds of agreements would activate.
Olivia needed the evidence organized before then.
The safe deposit box contained the invoice.
It also contained copies of Daniel's transfers.
And one handwritten note from Stephen Hale.
SEBASTIAN — IF I FAIL, DO NOT REVENGE ME. TELL THE TRUTH.
Olivia read it alone.
Sebastian had kept the note for eleven years.
Ignored it for eleven years.
But never destroyed it.
She understood then that guilt had been living beside him long before she arrived.
Not enough to stop him.
Enough to haunt him.
The evidence went to authorities.
Daniel's lawyers began negotiating.
Sebastian resigned temporarily as CEO.
The board appointed an interim executive.
Camille disappeared from public view.
Then Olivia received a message from her.
WE NEED TO TALK.
Camille came to Briarwood wearing jeans and sunglasses.
Without the blue gown, diamonds, and contempt, she looked ordinary.
“I wasn't supposed to be at the mansion that night,” she said.
Olivia crossed her arms.
“What?”
“Sebastian told me to stay away.”
“Yet you came.”
“I wanted you to see me.”
At least she was truthful.
Camille had believed Sebastian would divorce Olivia and marry her.
She wanted the humiliation.
Olivia felt no sympathy.
Then Camille offered information.
Sebastian had used her apartment for meetings.
One man came repeatedly.
Dr. Reeves.
The doctor who signed the false letter.
Camille had security footage.
“Why didn't you tell anyone?”
“Because I was sleeping with your husband.”
“That didn't stop you before.”
Camille flinched.
Olivia continued.
“Why now?”
“Because yesterday Sebastian told me it was over.”
Olivia almost laughed.
Again.
Rejected women arriving with evidence.
“Then take it to Evelyn.”
“I wanted to give it to you.”
“No.”
Camille blinked.
Olivia stood.
“You don't get absolution from me.”
“I didn't ask for—”
“Yes, you did.”
Silence.
“You want me to tell you Sebastian used you. That you were another victim.”
Camille's eyes hardened.
“He did use me.”
“And you helped him hurt me.”
Camille looked down.
Both things were true.
Olivia had learned to allow two truths to exist at once.
“You can do the right thing,” she said, “without becoming innocent.”
Camille gave Evelyn the footage.
It showed Reeves entering her apartment four times.
One recording captured audio.
Sebastian asking him to “strengthen the language” about Olivia's emotional instability.
It was devastating.
The capacity case collapsed permanently.
Reeves surrendered his medical license pending investigation.
Sebastian's last public shield disappeared.
Then, twelve hours before the Northstar deadline, Olivia received worse news.
The fetal monitor at her appointment showed irregular contractions.
Her doctor ordered immediate rest.
Hospital observation.
“No board meetings,” the doctor said.
Olivia almost laughed.
Monday morning, she lay in a hospital bed while the largest battle of her life unfolded without her physically present.
May you like
Sebastian had chosen pregnancy as evidence of weakness.
Now Olivia would prove leadership did not require standing inside a boardroom.
