Board members resigned via public press releases. Federal investigators from the SEC and the Department of Justice officially launched a criminal inquiry into corporate fraud and patent theft.

Ethan’s polished billionaire legend shattered in the public eye exactly the way my heart had once shattered in the dark.

But his ugliest, most desperate move was still to come.

During my final week of pregnancy, when I was physically heavy and exhausted, Ethan arranged an emergency legal meeting under the false pretense of settling the divorce terms out of court.

He walked into the conference room looking haggard and frantic, his suit wrinkled and his eyes bloodshot. He immediately began pacing aggressively, shouting that he’d ruin my reputation, drag me through endless appeals, and expose my medical history unless I signed a document admitting I had mismanaged Madeline’s estate funds.

He believed the intense physical stress and the looming labor pains would make me desperate enough to sign anything just to buy some peace.