Nathaniel was beginning to do the damage himself.
He looked at Genevieve.
“What exactly do you want?”
The question came out colder than he intended.
The polished billionaire disappeared for half a second, replaced by the man who had once thrown pages across a room because he could not make himself sound human.
Genevieve closed the folder.
“The truth would have been enough.”
Nathaniel laughed once, without humor.
“So this is revenge.”
“No.”
“Then why tonight?”
Genevieve glanced toward Chloe, then back at him.
“Because tonight you didn’t just hide what I did.
You handed it to someone else.”
Nobody interrupted her.
“You could have said I helped.
You could have said nothing.
Instead, you watched another woman describe my work as hers, and then your staff told me to remain off set because you wanted the segment clean.”
Nathaniel’s face changed again.
He had not expected her to mention the message.
The host asked, “You were specifically told to stay off the set?”
Genevieve nodded.
Her phone still contained the text.
Nathaniel looked toward the cameras.
He knew what Genevieve knew.
Every attempt to deny something now created another document.
The host asked whether the network could review the materials after the broadcast.
Genevieve agreed.
Nathaniel objected immediately.
“My attorneys will need to review anything involving private correspondence.”
The host answered calmly.
“Of course.”
The word of course did not save him.
It only made the situation sound official.
By the time the segment ended, Nathaniel had stopped smiling.
Chloe rose before he did.
He reached for her arm.
She stepped away.
Genevieve noticed, but felt no satisfaction.
Chloe had participated in the humiliation, but Nathaniel had constructed the stage.
The producer approached Genevieve and asked whether the network could make copies of the relevant materials.
Genevieve handed him a prepared duplicate set.
Nathaniel saw that too.
His eyes narrowed.
“You came prepared.”
Genevieve met his gaze.
“I came prepared to talk about the book.”
That answer seemed to hurt him more than any accusation.
Because it was true.
She had not arrived planning to destroy him.
She had arrived expecting to sit beside her husband.
He had chosen everything that followed.
In the hallway outside the studio, Nathaniel finally dropped his television voice.
“What were you thinking?”
Genevieve kept walking.
