Chapter 71 The Plan
Vivienne's POV
Why the hell was he contacting me?
I stared at Rapheal's message on my phone screen, reading it over and over like the words might change if I looked at them too much.
"This is Raphael. We need to talk."
This number is strange, I muttered to myself.
My first instinct was to delete it. Block the number. Pretend I never saw it. He had literally come all the way here just to talk, talk about what exactly? Maybe he thinks he can talk me out of the twenty million that I requested for. This had to be a trap.
Some kind of scheme.
I stood there on the sidewalk outside the gallery, people flowing around me like water around a stone, while I tried to figure out what to do.
How did he know I would be here?
My phone buzzed again.
"I have information about Rapheal that you need to hear. Information that will help your case. Meet me for coffee. Public place. Your choice of location. I'll come alone. Damien.”
Damien?
Raphael's cousin.
The same cousin that tried to take the company away from Raphael, is the same that wants to see me. Anything for Rapheal's downfall, Damien would jump on it.
Information that would help my case.
That could mean anything. Could be a lie to get me to meet him. Could be a setup. Could be Damjel trying to insert himself into my divorce for his own benefit.
Or it could be legitimate.
I thought about Raphael standing at that window asking for a divorce. About the fake prenup documents with his handwritten lies. About being fired and locked out and accused of theft. About three years of manipulation and calculation.
If Damien actually had information that could help me, could I afford not to hear it?
I took a screenshot of Damjen messages and sent them to Monica with a text:
"Rapheal's cousin Damien just contacted me. Says he has information that would help my case. What should I do?"
Then I forwarded the same screenshots to Sarah with: "SOS. Damien Moreau wants to meet. The cousin who tried to kill Raphael. Is this insane?"
Sarah's response came first, within seconds.
"DO NOT MEET HIM ALONE. That man is literally an attempted murderer. If you're going to do this stupid thing at least let me come with you."
Monica's reply took a few more minutes but was equally emphatic.
"Absolutely do not meet with him without me present. If he has legitimate information, he can provide it through proper legal channels. This could be witness tampering or worse."
I looked at both responses and knew they were right. Meeting Damien alone would be stupid and potentially dangerous. But I was also curious now. What information could he possibly have? And why would he want to help me against Raphael?
I typed a response to him, my fingers hesitating over each word.
"I'm willing to hear what you have to say, but only with my attorney present. If you actually have information relevant to my divorce, you can share it through proper legal channels."
I hit send before I could second-guess myself.
The response came back almost immediately.
"Lawyers complicate things. What I have to tell you is sensitive. Family matters that won't show up in corporate filings or legal documents. But fine. Bring your lawyer if you need to. Tomorrow, 10 AM, the coffee shop on the corner of Fifth and Market. I'll be in the back corner booth."
I screenshot that exchange too and sent it to both Monica and Sarah.
Monica called me directly this time instead of texting.
"This is highly irregular," she said when I answered. "I don't like it."
"I don't like it either," I admitted. "But what if he actually has something useful? What if there's something about Raphael or the family or the company that we don't know?"
"Then he can testify under oath in a deposition," Monica said firmly. "Not have secret meetings in coffee shops like we're in some kind of spy movie."
"But he won't do that. You know he won't. Whatever he wants to tell me, he wants to do it off the record."
Monica was quiet for a moment. I could hear papers rustling in the background, probably files related to my case spread across her desk.
"If we do this," she said finally, "we do it my way. I come with you. We record the conversation, audio only, on my phone, which is legal in this state as long as one party consents.
We meet in a very public place during busy hours. And at the first sign that this is some kind of setup or manipulation, we leave immediately. Agreed?"
"Agreed," I said.
"And Vivienne? Don't tell him anything. Don't confirm or deny anything about your case, your evidence, your strategy. You listen only. Let me do any talking that needs to be done. Understood?"
"Understood."
After we hung up, I called Sarah.
"Please tell me Monica talked you out of this," she said when she answered.
"She's coming with me. We're meeting him tomorrow morning."
Sarah groaned. "You're both crazy. This is crazy. Damien Moreau is dangerous, Viv. Like actually dangerous. Not just rich-person-will-sue-you dangerous.
Actually-had-someone-stabbed-in-an-alley dangerous."
"I know," I said quietly. "But I need to know what he wants to tell me."
"What if it's a trap? What if he's working with Raphael?"
I had thought about that. But it didn't make sense. Raphael and Damien hated each other. Had hated each other for years. The whole marriage contract existed because Damien had tried to take over the company and Marcus needed to fulfill his part of the will requirements to block him.
"I don't think they're working together," I said. "I think Damien wants to hurt Rapheal. And maybe helping me is a way to do that."
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend?" Sarah said skeptically. "That only works in movies, Viv. In real life, the enemy of your enemy is just another enemy who happens to want the same person dead."
She had a point.
"I'm still going," I said. "But Monica will be there. We'll be in public. It'll be fine."
"Famous last words," Sarah muttered. "If you end up dead in a ditch somewhere, I'm going to be so mad at you."
"If I end up dead in a ditch somewhere, you have my permission to say 'I told you so' at my funeral."
"Not funny."
"A little bit funny."
Sarah sighed heavily. "Fine. But I'm tracking your location on my phone tomorrow morning. And if you don't text me every thirty minutes starting from when you get there, I'm calling the police."
"Deal."