“What is this?”
“Sit down.”
Her smile disappeared.
“Grant?”
“Sit.”
She did.
I placed the first document in front of her.
Laura’s hospital intake.
Then the phone logs.
Then the forwarding report.
Then the wire-transfer metadata.
Then the hotel timeline.
Then the safe-access logs.
Page by page, Serena’s face changed.
Confusion.
Anger.
Fear.
Finally, Marcus placed a photograph on the table.
It had come from a security camera outside Wake County Memorial.
Laura was visible near the hospital entrance.
Very pregnant.
Holding a phone.
And behind her, parked near the curb, was Serena’s white Mercedes SUV.
The license plate was clear.
Serena stopped breathing.
I leaned back.
“Tell me why you were there.”
She stared at the photograph.
“Grant…”
“Why were you at the hospital?”
“You don’t understand.”
I almost smiled.
I had heard those exact words before.
From Laura.
The difference was that Laura had been telling the truth.
“Try me.”
Serena looked toward the attorneys.
Then Marcus.
Then me.
Her voice dropped.
“I loved you.”
I felt nothing.
“I loved you before she ever deserved you.”
“There it is.”
“She was ordinary, Grant. She didn’t understand your world. She held you back.”
“So you framed her?”
“I was protecting you.”
“You stole my mother’s necklace.”
“I put it back.”
“You transferred money using her credentials.”
“I never kept it!”
“You impersonated her at a hotel.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I needed you to see what you refused to see.”
“What exactly was I supposed to see?”
“That she wasn’t right for you!”
I stood.
Serena stood too.
“You were miserable with her!”
“No.”
My voice came out quieter than expected.
“I became miserable because you taught me to question everything she did.”
“She was going to trap you with those babies.”
I stared at her.
That was the moment the last piece of doubt disappeared.
Serena had known.
All along.
I removed the engagement ring box from my pocket.
Not her ring.
The empty box from the jeweler.
I placed it on the table.
“The engagement is over.”
Her face twisted.
“You’re choosing her?”
“This has nothing to do with choosing Laura.”
I leaned toward her.
“This is me finally choosing the truth.”
My attorneys handled everything after that.
Serena’s access to my homes was revoked.
Her cards were canceled.
Her office privileges ended.
The evidence involving the fraudulent transactions and falsified records went to the appropriate authorities and investigators.
I did not scream.
I did not humiliate her publicly.
I had already learned what happens when a powerful man mistakes anger for justice.
This time, I let evidence speak.
