Chapter 8 - The Aftermath at Apex
By three o'clock that afternoon, Brenda from HR called my cell phone directly. Her professional detachment was gone, replaced by profound empathy and sincere apologies.
"Mrs. Miller, I want to personally inform you that the court order has been processed," Brenda said. "Louisa was retroactively enrolled in our premier family medical and dental network starting from her exact minute of birth. All pending pediatric claims, including her six-week wellness exam, will be processed and paid at one hundred percent in-network coverage."
"Thank you, Brenda," I said, leaning against my kitchen island, feeling the weight of the last twenty-four hours begin to lift from my shoulders. "What about the deductible?"
"Apex Digital is waiving all dependent deductibles for your child as part of our internal administrative remediation," Brenda answered gently. "And Mrs. Miller... for what it's worth, I am so sorry for what Mr. Miller put you through. Our forensic accounting team audited his accounts today. They found over fourteen thousand dollars in diverted corporate travel vouchers and vendor kickbacks he used to subsidize Miss Thorne’s luxury apartment in River North."
The sheer scale of his deceit made me shudder. Miles hadn't just made a selfish mistake; he had been living a double life for months, using our household stability as a shield while burning through resources to maintain an illicit affair.
At five o'clock, the locks on our front door were officially changed by a licensed locksmith, accompanied by a local police officer who verified my court-issued exclusive possession order. As the locksmith tightened the final deadbolt, Miles’s luxury sedan pulled up to the curb.
He got out of the car looking like a hollow shell of the man who had slammed his fist on my counter the night before. His tie was gone, his hair was messy, and his shirt was rumpled. He walked up the front steps and reached for his key, only to find it wouldn't fit into the brass cylinder.
The patrol officer stepped forward from the porch shadows. "Mr. Miller. You have an active injunction prohibiting you from being within five hundred feet of this residence. You need to step back into your vehicle."
Miles looked past the officer, his eyes landing on me through the front window. When he saw the cold, unshakeable calm on my face, the reality of his collapse finally hit him.
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"Catriona!" he shouted through the door, his voice cracking with desperation. "Cat, please! They fired me! They’re threatening to file criminal charges with the state's attorney! You have to talk to Evelyn and withdraw the court petition! I have nowhere to go!"
I didn't answer. I didn't step outside. I simply reached up and pulled the wooden plantation shutters closed, shutting out his frantic face forever.
