Unfinished Business Chapter 12

While Natasha was rushing home, a furious Leo demanded the exact letter that halted his divorce. The timestamp—11:42 PM three months ago—instantly set off alarm bells. That was the night of the Standly family dinner, where Leo had left his unlocked laptop in his father’s study while the older man pulled him onto the balcony for drinks.

Leo immediately brought in his head of cybersecurity to run a forensic audit on his personal email logs. Within minutes, the tech team handed him the smoking gun: the email halting the divorce had been sent directly from the static IP address of Standly Sr.’s private residence. His father had deliberately used his unlocked laptop to fake the reconciliation and protect the family’s corporate interests.

Equipped with that digital proof, Leo marched straight upstairs to confront his father

The mahogany doors of the senior executive suite didn't just open; they slammed against the wall so hard the heavy brass handles vibrated.

Standly Sr. didn't even flinch. He sat behind his massive obsidian desk, a crystal glass of scotch resting near his elbow, calmly reviewing a stack of quarterly reports. He slowly looked up, taking in the sight of his son—hair disheveled, tie torn off, eyes bloodshot with a mix of betrayal and pure, unadulterated rage.

"I see you've spoken with your attorney," the older man said, his voice as smooth and cold as slate.

"You intercepted my divorce," Leo spat, striding across the room until he slammed both hands flat against his father's desk, leaning over him. "You logged into my personal network. You sent an unauthorized instruction to my legal team to pull the final filings. You lied to me for months!"

"I protected this family," Standly Sr. replied, setting his pen down with deliberate care. "Something you seem entirely incapable of doing lately."

"Protected us?" Leo let out a harsh, bitter laugh. "Erica walked into my office today. In front of Natasha. She tried to frame it like I was leading a double life!"

"Ah, yes. The new girl in accounting," his father said, an amused, disdainful curl touching his lip. "Did you honestly think I wouldn't notice where you were spending your nights, Leo? Or the fact that you were preparing to discard a union that holds twelve percent of our international hospitality holdings together just to play house with an employee?"

Leo went rigid. "Erica is a toxic, manipulative leech. She was draining corporate accounts through ghost vendor files—which Natasha actually caught, by the way. Erica didn't even want the marriage! She wanted the leverage."

"And I gave her a reason to keep her mouth shut," Standly Sr. countered, his voice dropping into a dangerous, commanding register as he stood up to face his son eye-to-eye. "The moment that divorce becomes final, Erica’s father pulls his board seats. The merger in Europe collapses. I did what a real CEO does: I managed the threat. I paid her an allowance, let her play high-society wife on paper, and bought us time."

"You breached my privacy and committed fraud to keep me tied to a woman I despise!" Leo roared, his fists clenching so hard his knuckles turned stark white. "You let me believe I was free!"

"You are a Standly," his father snapped back, stepping around the desk until he was inches from Leo. "Your personal happiness is a luxury this company cannot afford. You will put Erica back on a leash, you will fire that accountant before she becomes a liability, and you will secure the European expansion."

The silence in the room stretched thin, taut enough to snap. Leo stared at his father, the man he had spent his entire life trying to respect, and felt the last thread of familial duty break inside him.

"No," Leo said quietly. The rage in his voice vanished, replaced by a cold, absolute certainty that made his father's eyebrows twitch upward in subtle surprise.

"Excuse me?"

"I’m not firing Natasha," Leo said, stepping back and straightening his posture. "And I’m not playing your game anymore. I’m calling a special board meeting for tomorrow morning. I’m laying out Erica's financial fraud, your unauthorized access to my private legal communications, and the full audit trail Natasha put together."

Standly Sr.’s face hardened into a mask of iron. "You would burn down your own inheritance?"

"If it means burning out the rot in this company? In a heartbeat," Leo replied, turning toward the heavy mahogany doors. "Have your lawyers ready, Dad. Because by noon tomorrow, one way or another, my divorce will be final—and your reign on this board will be over."

The elevator ride down from his father's penthouse office felt like an eternity. Leo practically ran through the glass lobby of Standly Enterprises, brushing past security without a word, and got straight into his car. He didn't call his driver. He needed to be behind the wheel himself, the engine roaring as he sped through evening traffic toward Natasha's building.

Upstairs, Natasha was sitting on the edge of her sofa in her lounge pants, a untouched mug of tea cooling on the coffee table. Her phone was on speaker, Donna and Kendra’s voices buzzing in the background as they tried to comfort her, but her mind was still trapped in that corner office—watching Erica smile, hearing the word wife.

Then came the knock.

It wasn't a polite, measured knock. It was heavy, urgent, and desperate.

Natasha froze. "Guys, I'll call you back," she whispered, hanging up before her friends could protest.

She walked over to the door, her heart hammering against her ribs, and looked through the peephole. Leo stood in the dimly lit hallway. His hair was completely disheveled, his expensive jacket was gone, his top button undone, and his eyes carried a raw, agonized look she had never seen on him before.

Slowly, Natasha pulled the door open, keeping her hand firm on the edge. "Leo... what are you doing here?"

"Natasha, please," Leo rasped, his voice rough. He looked like a man who had just survived an explosion. "Don't close the door. Just... give me five minutes. Please."

"I don't know what to say to you," she said softly, her chest aching at the sight of him, though her defenses remained firmly up. "You're married, Leo. You lied to me."

"I didn't lie to you!" The words tore out of him, desperate and fast. "I swear on my life, Natasha, I believed those papers were filed three months ago. I thought I was free. I would never bring you into my life like this if I knew."

Natasha looked at him searching, desperately wanting to believe him, but the hurt was too deep. "Then how did Erica walk into your office claiming you halted it? Kendra found out an email came directly from your personal account—"

"It was my father," Leo interrupted, stepping closer, though he stopped just shy of her threshold, respecting her boundary. "My head of IT just ran the forensic logs. Three months ago, at the family dinner at his estate, I left my laptop unlocked in his study while he pulled me outside. He logged into my account and sent that instruction to my attorney himself."

Natasha blinked, the breath catching in her throat. "Your... your father?"

"Erica’s family controls twelve percent of our international holdings," Leo explained, his eyes locking onto hers with unwavering, fierce honesty. "My father was protecting the European expansion. He traded my life—my happiness—to keep her quiet. He let me believe I was divorced while paying her an allowance off the books."

Natasha stood completely still as the pieces clicked together. The unauthorized hotel cards, Erica's smug confidence, the strange feeling of being watched... Standly Sr. had been pulling the strings the entire time.

"I just came from his office," Leo added, his tone dropping into a quiet, grounded vow. "I told him I’m calling a emergency board meeting tomorrow morning. I’m exposing Erica’s fraud, my father’s security breach, and laying out the full audit. I don't care if it tears the company apart. I'm finishing this."

He reached out, his hand hovering inches from hers, waiting for her permission.

"I don't care about the money, Natasha. I don't care about the Standly name," Leo whispered, his voice cracking slightly. "The only thing I care about... is whether I lost you today."