Part 4: The Final Settlement
Jonah slid the legal folder across the table. On the front page, the title read: Unconditional Dissolution of Assets and Irrevocable Transfer of Ownership.
“I didn’t sign this to divorce you, Audrey,” Jonah said, placing his hand over mine. “As your husband, I have legal authority over the merged Vance-Lane estate. This document transfers ninety percent of the charity’s capital, the real estate holdings, and the original intellectual property back into your name. By tomorrow morning, my mother and cousin will be entirely broke, and the board will have no choice but to recognize you as the majority shareholder.”
I looked at the signature line. Jonah had already signed his name in dark, permanent ink. He was giving away his family’s entire empire, stripping himself of the wealth he had been born into, just to balance the scales for a girl he had met through a pane of glass.
“They thought they locked me away to keep the secret safe,” Jonah said, a small, genuine smile finally returning to his face. “But they ended up putting me in the one room where I could finally learn how to save us both.”
I looked down at the documents, then up at the man who had spent three years of his confinement making sure my brother and I survived. The marriage had started as a transactional lie born of desperation, but as I pulled Jonah into a tight, fierce embrace, I knew the family we had built was the only real thing we had left.
“Let’s go take our company back,” I said.
