Owen looked like someone had handed him oxygen.
“That’s fantastic.”
“There are enhanced representations attached.”
“Our attorneys reviewed the standard draft.”
“These were added Saturday.”
Owen frowned.
Adrian continued.
“We require certification from every executive that there are no undisclosed criminal complaints, harassment claims, domestic abuse allegations, pending civil actions, fraud investigations, or other matters reasonably likely to damage Price Dynamics or Monroe Alder.”
Keisha looked up immediately.
Owen didn’t.
“Not a problem.”
Adrian leaned back.
“You may have your attorney review it.”
“No need.”
“Owen,” Keisha said quietly, “we should still—”
He waved her off.
“We’re clean.”
Adrian looked at him carefully.
“Entirely?”
“Entirely.”
He signed.
Keisha signed after reviewing her sections.
Ben signed his.
The bridge funding cleared that afternoon.
At 5:41 p.m., Owen texted me.
Guess who just raised almost a million before the full round?
I did not answer.
Three minutes later:
You picked a bad weekend to blow up your marriage.
I forwarded both messages to Naomi.
Then Lorraine went to war
Had Owen’s family simply stayed quiet, things might have unfolded much more slowly.
Lorraine made that impossible.
By Tuesday afternoon, she had posted a fourteen-minute video online.
She never used my full name.
But she described me as a “greedy little gold digger” who had married her son for money and abandoned him after “he finally stood up to her.”
She claimed I stole property from their home.
She claimed I had been cheating.
She claimed I had fabricated an assault because Owen was going to become wealthy.
Most importantly, she said something very useful.
“My son barely touched her. He gave her one slap because she was screaming in his mother’s face. And now suddenly she wants to destroy his reputation?”
The video received thousands of views.
Lorraine later deleted it.
My investigator had already downloaded it.
By Wednesday, my doctor had completed a report documenting bruising on my wrist, hip, cheek, and lip.
By Thursday, police had interviewed Derek.
Derek tried to minimize what happened.
Unfortunately for Owen, Derek had sent a voice note to his girlfriend at 1:07 a.m. after the wedding.
She voluntarily provided it to investigators.
In the recording, he said:
