Daniel smiled.
“Because you owned forty percent.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“Your father bought you forty percent of the company when you married Ryan.”
I shook my head.
“I thought that was Ryan’s.”
“No.”
Daniel leaned back.
“Your father never trusted Ryan.”
I felt something inside me shift.
“My father knew?”
“Apparently.”
He opened another folder.
“There are letters.”
“From my father?”
“Yes.”
I opened the first one.
My father’s handwriting.
Addison,
If Ryan ever treats you like an accessory instead of an equal partner, remember that you are not dependent on him.
My eyes burned.
The second letter said:
The shares are yours. They cannot be transferred without your signature.
The third:
I hope you never need these documents.
I closed my eyes.
My father had died two years earlier.
He had never warned me directly.
Perhaps he had hoped he wouldn’t have to.
But he had prepared for it.
