Only I knew the truth. This wasn't a tantrum.
This was salvation.
Cutting the deadweight loose was the only way to win.
The joint development projects between the Henson and Calloway Groups? Pulled.
The technical teams the Henson family had lent to support Calloway operations? Pulled.
Henson capital? Every last cent of it. Gone.
As for whatever support the Calloways had provided in return, my father and I had already lined up new teams, new technical management, weeks in advance.
Within twenty-four hours, the replacements were in place. Every project under Henson's control moved forward without a hitch.
The funding gap was covered by a contract we'd already signed with the bank. The money would land in two days.
The Calloway side, on the other hand, descended into chaos. Three major projects under their control collapsed the moment the technical teams walked out, grinding to a dead halt overnight.
New products already in production had to be shelved indefinitely when the cash dried up.
Dominic finally panicked.
The first time, he waited for me outside my office building. The second he saw me, he grabbed my arm and pulled me into my own office.
He'd even adjusted the lights to a warm, study-like glow, as if atmosphere alone could soften me.
From behind his back, he produced a document and held it out.
"Ava, isn't this what you're afraid of? That I'll use Calloway Group resources to bankroll Fiona?" He set the papers on the desk between us. "This is a transfer agreement. Sign it, and you become the legal representative of the Calloway Group."
"The house we live in, the cars, every dollar in my accounts. All yours."
He stepped closer, and his expression shifted into something I'd rarely seen from him: tenderness.
"Ava, we've had eighteen years together. We can work anything out. I truly care about you. Can we please not get divorced?"
I stared at the transfer agreement, and the urge to laugh nearly split me open.
So in this lifetime, Dominic was playing the exact same hand.
In my previous life, he'd funneled company resources and clients to the Prescotts one deal at a time. When I'd fought him over it, when I'd threatened divorce, he'd done this same thing. The same earnest apology. The same grand gesture of changing the Calloway Group's legal representative to my name.
The same script. The same con.