Chapter 6 - Madison’s Price
Madison contacted me nine days before the divorce hearing.
The message came through Naomi’s secure office account.
I need to speak to Iris alone.
Naomi refused the request.
Madison agreed to meet with both of us in a private conference room.
She arrived wearing a black dress and dark glasses. Her confidence had vanished. She kept looking toward the hallway as if Jason might appear.
Naomi placed a recorder on the table.
“This conversation will be documented.”
Madison nodded.
“I understand.”
I said nothing.
For several seconds, she stared at her hands.
Then she whispered, “Jason is going to kill me.”
Naomi’s voice remained calm.
“Has he threatened you?”
“He said accidents happen to women who betray him.”
The same coldness I had heard at the lake house returned to my skin.
Madison removed her glasses. A bruise marked the side of her face.
I felt sympathy, followed immediately by anger.
She had watched Jason hurt me.
She had lied for him.
She had helped steal my company.
“You had chances to stop,” I said.
“I know.”
“You could have helped me that night.”
“I know.”
“You told the police I fell.”
Tears gathered in her eyes.
“I was afraid.”
“So was I.”
She lowered her head.
There was no answer that could erase what she had done.
Madison admitted that Jason had begun the affair by promising her a position as chief financial officer. He told her I was unstable, cruel, and responsible for holding him back.
At first, she believed him.
Then she discovered the forged documents.
Instead of leaving, she helped him.
“I wanted the position,” she said. “I wanted the money. I convinced myself you deserved to lose because he said you had inherited everything.”
“I built that company.”
“I know that now.”
She opened her handbag and removed a small flash drive.
It contained copies of offshore transfers, messages between Jason and the clinic doctor, and recordings Madison had made after the attack.
In one recording, Jason laughed about the police investigation.
“They have no victim,” he said. “She’s hiding because she knows no one will believe her.”
In another, he ordered Madison to destroy financial records.
The final recording was different.
Madison asked what would happen if I appeared in court.
Jason replied, “Then I’ll finish what I started.”
Naomi stopped the recording.
“That is a direct threat.”
Madison looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
I wanted to accept the apology.
Part of me wanted to tell her that Jason had deceived us both.
But that would have been another lie.
He had manipulated her, but she had also made choices.
“Testify,” I said.
Her face tightened.
“He’ll destroy me.”
“You helped him destroy me.”
She flinched.
I continued.
“You do not get forgiveness because you became afraid after helping him. You get a chance to tell the truth. What happens after that is not mine to decide.”
Madison agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
She was placed under protection and instructed to continue pretending loyalty to Jason.
For the next week, she stood beside him at public events and allowed him to believe she was still his partner.
On the morning of the hearing, she entered the courtroom holding his arm.
May you like
Jason thought her presence proved he controlled the only witness.
He did not know the flash drive was already in the judge’s private chambers.
