Audrey POV
Mercer ended the hearing in under four minutes.
Patel's motion changed what the case was about. It was no longer just about divorce. It was now about possible fraud.
This meant Mercer couldn't handle it anymore. Federal officials would have to take over before anything else happened.
She said this simply, without adding any opinions, and then left.
The room got noisy right away. Reporters had been waiting in the hall. Someone had told them.
The doors opened, and noise burst in before anyone had even put away their papers.
Rachel pulled Audrey toward the side exit. "Don't speak to anyone."
Audrey was already moving. She heard her name from two different directions, voices with recorders, asking many questions at once.
The side exit opened onto a back hallway. Rachel kept walking. "Patel's motion changes everything.
If this goes federal, your secret documents with Margaret could be seen by everyone."
"They show what he did. That's the point."
"They also show what Victoria did. And James. And depending on how they look into it, they could show what you did."
Rachel stopped at the stairwell door. "You moved money through another account when you were married.
Even if you had a good reason, it won't look good to federal investigators."
Audrey pushed through the door. "Then we get ahead of it. We submit voluntarily."
"That's a strong move."
"So is Patel."
They reached the ground floor. A side street exit, no press.
Audrey stepped into the cold and stopped.
Her phone showed three messages from her bank. Account frozen. The card declined. Bank account held because of an investigation started by someone else.
She had known this since the hearing. Seeing it again did not make it any easier.
She had sixty dollars in cash. The hotel room was paid for through tonight. Tomorrow was a problem she would solve tonight.
Rachel was still talking. Audrey listened to the parts that needed her to decide and ignored the rest.
"I'll call you in an hour," Audrey said and ended the meeting.
She walked.
Not toward the hotel. Not toward Sophie's building. She needed to think freely, and the city was the only place that asked nothing of her.
She had gone four blocks when a black car pulled to the curb beside her. The window came down.
Scott. No driver. He was behind the wheel himself, meaning he didn't want anyone else to know where he was going.
"Get in," he said.
"No."
"Audrey." His voice wasn't telling her what to do, just sounding tired. "Patel called three reporters before the hearing. Your name is already online in two places.
Get in the car and let me take you somewhere that isn't a street corner."
She kept walking.
The car moved with her.
"I took back the document," he said through the window. "I gave it to Mercer. I took Thorne's place. I am not my father in this."
"I know what you did."
"Then let me help."
She stopped. Turned. I looked at him through the open window.
His eyes were red and calm, the same eyes from the bedroom two nights ago, confused and lost.
She felt something in her chest, but pushed it down.
"You helping me," she said, "is another thing they can use.
Patel says we're working together. If I get in that car, we will prove him right."
He was quiet for three seconds.
"Then tell me what you need."
"Nothing from you."
She walked.
The car did not follow.
Margaret's office was her next stop. She walked twelve blocks and arrived with wet shoes and a clear head.
Margaret was waiting. She had the television on, quiet, with the words on the screen.
A news bar at the bottom showed Audrey's name, then Scott's, then 'fraud investigation'.
"Patel moved fast," Audrey said.
"He had this ready before the hearing. The motion was written yesterday." Margaret turned the television off. "He knew Scott would take back the document.
He needed something else to use."
"Me."
"He's making it look like you're the bad guy. He's saying you were secretly gathering evidence against your husband's company while you were married."
Audrey sat down and asked, "What proof do we have that Patel brought Elena back?"
Margaret put a drive on the desk. She said, "We have money transfers. A fake company in Delaware paid for Elena to move, her apartment, and three months of her bills.
This started nine weeks before your anniversary." She stopped. "That fake company is linked to Patel's money through two steps."
"That's enough."
"It's enough to tell the police. Not enough to prove he's guilty yet."
"Just telling the FBI is all I need right now." Audrey grabbed the drive. "I'll give this to the FBI's money crimes team tonight, by myself.
I'll tell them everything, including what Hargrove said. This way, I get my story out first, before Patel tells his."
Margaret looked at her. "If you do that, you won't just be a person in a divorce case anymore.
You'll be helping the FBI in a federal investigation.
You could get into much more trouble legally for a while."
"And Patel loses all his power over you."
"Yes."
"Do it," Audrey said.
Margaret reached for the phone.
Audrey was back outside by six. The FBI office took her information at 5:47 pm, with Margaret there.
They gave her a case number. It wouldn't go fast. But the case was real now, and Patel couldn't stop something the FBI already had.
Her hotel was three blocks away. She walked with her hands in her pockets, pulling her coat tight. The wind had changed, and it got colder fast.
Her phone buzzed. Sophie.
She didn't answer. She couldn't tell Sophie everything tonight. Not without sitting, and she couldn't sit yet.
She got to the hotel. The lobby was warm and felt private. She took the elevator up and used her keycard to open her door.
The room looked just like she left it. The bed was neat. Her bag was on the desk.
The USB drive from the first night was next to her passport.
She sat on the edge of the bed. Closed her eyes for four seconds. I opened them.
Her phone buzzed again. Not Sophie. It was an email with no name from the sender.
It came the same secret way all messages from Garrett's group did.
She opened it.
There was one file. It was a written copy of a phone call from eight months ago, with dates and times.
It was a private call between two people.
The paper was sixteen pages long.
She read the first page. Then the second.
By the fourth page, her hands were totally still. That's how they got when something changed everything she thought she knew.
The call was between Elena Chase and a man she only called by his first name. Not Patel. Not James. It was Daniel.
Scott's best friend. His closest helper. The man who called Audrey on their anniversary night and told her not to sign anything.
The man said he wasn't sure about Scott's memory. The man Scott trusted most.
The paper showed Daniel checking the anniversary date.
Checking Scott's dinner plan.
Checking which drink would be left alone.
He wasn't just watching. He was the one who made it happen.
Her phone buzzed one more time. A second message from the same sender.
Four words: He still doesn't know.