Chapter 5 - CLEAN HANDS, COLD RAIN
The Broad Street penthouse occupied the entire thirty-second floor of Richmond’s most exclusive residential tower. It was a property Derek had never set foot in. In fact, Derek didn't even know it existed.
To Derek, Audrey had always been the sweet, slightly reserved daughter of a once-wealthy Southern family whose patriarch had passed away, leaving behind "a modest inheritance" that paid for Derek’s boutique investment firm and their grand lifestyle on River Road. Derek had convinced himself—and his mother had constantly reinforced—that he was the real breadwinner, the visionary, the man holding their luxurious life together.
He had conveniently forgotten that every contract he signed, every car he leased, and every brick of the River Road mansion was tethered to a private, ironclad trust established by Audrey’s grandfather, billionaire timber and logistics magnate Arthur Vance.
As dusk settled over the city, rain began to tap softly against the floor-to-ceiling glass of the penthouse.
Audrey sat in an overstuffed velvet armchair, nursing Maisie in the warm glow of a floor lamp. A registered pediatric night nurse, arranged by Marcus within an hour of her call, moved quietly about the kitchen, preparing sterilized bottles and organizing the infant supplies that had been delivered in pristine crates.
Audrey’s phone, resting on the side table, began to vibrate.
*Derek.*
Then a text: *Audrey, where the hell did you go? My mother is furious. You took Maisie out in the cold without even packing her diaper bag. Stop acting like a spoiled child. Come home so we can clear the air.*
Two minutes later: *I had Sienna leave. Happy now? Stop being dramatic and bring my daughter back.*
Then a call from Evelyn: *Audrey, you are making a grave mistake. Derek is an influential man in this city. If you think running away to a cheap hotel with his heir is going to win you sympathy, think again. Answer your phone.*
Audrey picked up the device, her fingers steady. She did not open the messages.
Instead, she opened her private banking app.
She navigated to the joint household management account—the account that paid for Derek’s country club dues, his luxury SUV leases, the five-figure landscaping contracts for the River Road mansion, and Evelyn’s personal charge cards.
With three taps, Audrey transferred the remaining liquidity—four hundred and eighty thousand dollars—back into the primary Vance Holding master account. She then submitted a request to cancel all secondary authorized users on the Black Centurion account Derek kept in his alligator-skin wallet.
A notification popped up immediately: *Secondary Cards Terminated. Daily Limit for User: Derek Halston set to: $0.00.*
Audrey set the phone down face-down on the table.
She looked down at Maisie, who was drifting off to sleep, her tiny fist curled against Audrey’s chest.
"You will never have to beg for a man's attention," Audrey whispered softly against the baby's warm forehead. "And you will never have to stay quiet to keep someone else comfortable."
May you like
Outside, the rain began to fall harder, washing the grime from the city streets thirty-two stories below.
***
