He picked up his phone again. This time, he didn't call Jerome. He started making calls to the judges and legal fixers his family had spent decades cultivating relationships with. Even though he knew it crossed ethical lines, he cashed in every favor, every connection his parents had in the legal world, explicitly demanding that the filings be sealed and his family's name kept entirely out of the public dockets. When Emily had to answer in court for her crimes, there would be no media circus. He was going to ensure Audrey and Lily never had to deal with the public humiliation of his mistakes.
But as the adrenaline slowly drained from his system, the cold, terrifying reality of the weekend rushed back in.
Neutralizing Emily didn't fix the damage she had already done. It didn't erase the sound of his own voice echoing in Audrey's ears. It didn't change the fact that his wife was currently sitting in a painfully quiet house, completely alone, deciding if his betrayal was a wound she could actually survive.
Simon looked at his phone. Every instinct he possessed screamed at him to drive to the house, to break the boundary and demand to see her, to prove that he had handled the threat.
But he didn't.
He remembered the hollow exhaustion in Audrey's eyes. I need you to stay away this weekend, Simon.
He had spent his entire marriage overriding her needs because he thought he knew better. He wasn't going to do it today. He had to prove he was a different man, even if it meant sitting in the agonizing, suffocating silence and letting her decide his fate.
Simon stayed in the guest house, entirely alone, and prayed that the woman he loved wouldn't give up on him.
Chapter 38
Audrey
Monday morning arrived with a heavy, overcast sky.
Audrey sat at her desk, staring blindly at the budget reports Elena had dropped off an hour ago. She hadn't processed a single number on the page. Her mind was entirely consumed by the Tuesday afternoon therapy session looming on her calendar.
The weekend had been grueling. The quiet in the house, with Lily away at Miranda's, had given her entirely too much room to think, to cry, and to let the horrific, taunting sounds of that audio file loop in her mind. But eventually, the tears had run out.
By Sunday night, the raw, bleeding wound Emily had tried to rip back open had finally started to close. The shock had faded, leaving behind a profound clarity. Audrey had made her decision about the recording, and she knew exactly what it meant for the rapidly approaching end of their ninety-day stipulation.
∞∞∞
That evening, back at the house, Audrey stood leaning quietly against the doorframe of Lily’s bedroom.
"Look, Dad! I drew a picture of the butterfly kite," Lily said proudly, holding up a piece of construction paper to the screen of the tablet propped on her nightstand.
Simon’s face filled the screen. He looked terrible—pale, with deep, dark circles under his eyes that told Audrey he probably hadn't slept a wink all weekend. Yet, his smile for their daughter was bright and entirely genuine.
"That is beautiful, bug," Simon's voice carried through the small speaker. "You got the colors exactly right."
Audrey watched him from afar. He had kept his word. He hadn't texted, hadn't called, and hadn't shown up at the door to plead his case. He had respected her boundary, even though she knew the silence was likely tearing him apart. Watching him gently coax Lily through her bedtime routine, his patience never wavering despite his obvious exhaustion, Audrey felt a quiet, steadying calm wash over her.
She turned away before the call ended, walking down the hall with her decision firmly locked in her heart.
∞∞∞
Tuesday afternoon, the tension in Dr. Thorne’s office was suffocating.
Simon sat stiffly on the edge of the velvet sofa, his hands clasped so tightly together his knuckles were white. He looked terrified. He hadn't spoken a word since they walked in, his dark eyes locked onto Audrey, waiting for the executioner's axe to fall.
Audrey sat comfortably in her usual armchair. She took a slow, deep breath.
"I spent the entire weekend thinking about the email," Audrey began, her voice steady and remarkably clear.
Simon flinched slightly, but he didn't look away. He just braced himself.
"And I have made a decision about what it means for the end of these ninety days," she continued. She saw the sheer, unadulterated panic flash across Simon’s face. "But before I tell you what that decision is, there is something else we need to do first."
Dr. Thorne tilted his head, his pen pausing over his notepad. "What is that, Audrey?"
Audrey shifted her gaze directly to Simon, her expression entirely uncompromising.
