And it is being recorded.” I picked up the remote in front of me and clicked it, and the screen behind me came to life — and instead of the quarterly sales figures they had all been expecting, the investors found themselves looking at a forensic audit.

A ripple went through them.

I want to explain why I chose to hold it as a meeting, in that lit room, in front of the investors, rather than handle it quietly through closed doors — because Lorna had questioned whether the spectacle was wise, and my reasons were the whole of my strategy.

Roman’s entire defense was that I was unstable: a wife having a breakdown, a jilted woman weaponizing a divorce.

He had already begun rehearsing it at my own dinner table.