“It’s for business.”
“What business?”
“Vanessa Gray Image.”
“You use your regular phone for Vanessa Gray.”
“I have multiple accounts.”
Marcus examined it.
No lock-screen notification.
No company label.
Nothing.
The envelope had also fallen out.
Nora, still near the door, looked at it.
“Marcus.”
He picked it up.
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Do not open that.”
Everyone went still.
Marcus stared at her.
“What is it?”
“Private.”
“You kept it in a secret phone bag?”
“That sentence doesn’t even make sense.”
“Then explain it.”
“I do not owe you access to every piece of my life.”
Marcus almost laughed.
“No.”
He nodded.
“You don’t.”
Then he looked toward Maya.
“But you owed my daughter enough decency not to destroy something her mother made.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“So now you get to go through my things?”
Marcus handed the envelope to Nora.
“Nora.”
She looked surprised.
“Take this and the phone.”
Vanessa’s face went white.
“No.”
Marcus looked at her.
“Why?”
Nora was not only his assistant.
She was a CPA and former forensic auditor who had spent seven years working in compliance before joining Marcus’s development company.
Vanessa knew that.
“Marcus, stop.”
He studied her face.
The bag suddenly mattered less than the fear.
“What is on the phone?”
“Nothing.”
“What is in the envelope?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why are you afraid?”
“I’m not.”
Maya whispered, “She is.”
Vanessa looked at her.
Marcus saw Maya flinch again.
That ended whatever remained of the marriage in that moment.
He did not yet know what lawyers would call it.
He knew what his body called it.
Done.
Marcus turned toward Lillian.
“Can you take Maya downstairs?”
Maya grabbed his arm.
“No.”
He looked down.
“I’m staying.”
“Baby.”
“I want to stay.”
“This is adult stuff.”
“She did adult stuff to my dress.”
Lillian closed her eyes.
Marcus almost corrected the girl’s tone.
Then he realized how absurd that instinct was.
He nodded.
“Stay with Grandma.”
Maya moved beside Lillian.
Marcus turned back to Vanessa.
“Pack a bag.”
She stared.
“You’re throwing me out.”
“Yes.”
“This is my home.”
“It is a house I owned before our marriage.”
“I live here.”
“Tonight you can live somewhere else.”
“You cannot legally remove me.”
Nora said quietly, “She may be right.”