The Day I Fired My Husband Novel

7 Carter arrived home late that night , looking like he'd been through a war . He stood in front of our colonial - style house in the suburbs and punched in the security code . Denied . He tried again . Denied . He tried our anniversary , my birthday , his birthday . Nothing . The frantic buzzing of the doorbell started , followed by a relentless barrage of calls to my cell phone . I sat on the living room sofa , sipping a glass of wine , watching my screen light up with his name again and again . I ignored every dall . Finally , what he was waiting for arrived .

It just wasn't me opening the door . It was a moving truck . It backed into our driveway , and a team of movers began carrying things out of the house . Box after sealed box , all labeled C.H. His custom - tailored suits . His collection of rare sneakers . His golf clubs . Even the gaudy trophies and framed diplomas he so proudly displayed in his home office . Every single thing that belonged to him was unceremoniously carried out and stacked on the curb like trash for pickup . The sight finally broke him .

He saw me through the sidelight window and charged the door just as I was about to throw the deadbo- It . He wedged his body in the frame , his face wild with desperation , and grabbed my arm . " Audrey ! I was wrong ! was a fool , okay ? it was just let me explain ! " he begged , his voice cracking with a panic I'd never heard from him before . " I stupid fling ! I love you , Audrey , only you ! " I yanked my arm from MRƏ ATAU S grasp , his touch making my skin crawl . I " A fling ? " I looked at my voice dangerously lo " You used my father's company as your personal playground .

You risked millio- pes for your ... fling . " ns of dollars and the livelihoods of a hundred He shook his head frantically . " No , that's not it ! She manipulated me , Audrey ! I swear , I had no idea she was like that ! She's just a simple , innocent girl . She seduced me ! " He was still trying to blame someone else . Pathetic . I was done listening . With all my strength , I shoved the heavy oak door shut . It slammed with a deafening thud , the deadbolt clicking firmly into place , sealing him out of my life for good .

From the other side , I could hear his desperate shouts , the sound of his fists hammering against the wood , and then , finally , the ragged , broken sobs of a man who had just lost everything . ∞ Locked out and cut off , Carter had nowhere to go . Every property he thought he owned was purchased after our wedding , and my father had insisted they all be put solely in my name . He checked into a hotel , a pathetic temporary refuge . His real trial began the next day , at the emergency board meeting .

07:32 Chapter 2 07:32 C He had tried to call Lexi , undoubtedly to get back some of the expensive gifts he'd lavished on her - gifts purchased with embezzl- ed company funds . He discovered she had already blocked his number and vanished , taking his money , his jewelry , and his delusio- ns with her . The " simple , innocent girl " had played him for the fool he was and cashed out . At the board meeting , I presented my findings . The detailed financial reports . The internal audit I had commissioned overnight .

Every instance of mismanagement , every doctored metric used to hide a failing project , every single dollar he had funneled from company accounts to fund his affair - it was all there , in black and white , with irrefutable proof . Faced with the cold , hard facts and the icy stares of my father and the other board members , Carter crumbled . His carefully const- ructed image of a brilliant executive shattered , revealing the incompetent , arrogant fraud underneath . The board's decision was unanimous .

Carter was not only terminated , but he would also be held personally liable for the full financial losses incurred by the company due to his gross negligence and embezzlement . It was a sum so staggering it would take him a lifetime to repay . He stumbled out of the corporate headquarters building looking like a ghost , his shoulders slumped in defeat . I was just leaving for the divisional office myself . My new assistant was holding the car door open for me . That assistant was Kevin , the sharp young intern who had first warned me about Lexi .

I'd seen his potential and promoted him that morning . Carter saw us . He watched me get into the back of the black town car that had , until yesterday , been his . He watched Kevin , an intern he had nev- er bothered to learn the name of , close the door for me with a respectful nod . The weight of it all - the debt , the humiliation , the sheer totality of his fall - seemed to crush him . He stumbled to the curb and sank down , burying his head in his hands like a man who had been shipwrecked . The car pulled smoothly away from the curb .

In the rearview mirror , I saw his + ted face one last time . He finally understood . He hadn't just lost a job and a wife . He had lost the golden ticket , the one person who had been the silent architect of his success , the person he had taken for granted and thrown away . But in the end , regret is