Chapter 1 - FIVE MINUTES AFTER I PRESSED SEND
For exactly twelve seconds, nothing happened.
Then Slack exploded.
Three typing indicators appeared beneath my post.
Then six.
Then eleven.
Grant’s co-founder, Michael Cho, reacted with a single question mark.
Outside counsel deleted it.
Another partner wrote:
Grant, call me immediately.
Then the financing representative posted:
Please preserve all communications. No one delete anything.
My phone started ringing.
Grant.
I watched it vibrate across the desk.
Decline.
Again.
Decline.
Again.
At 11:50, five minutes after I posted the photographs, his first message arrived.
Claire. Please. Take them down.
Then:
You don’t understand what you just did.
Then:
The financing round is going to collapse.
That was interesting.
Not our marriage is over.
Not I’m sorry.
Money first.
I replied:
Then perhaps explain why your executive assistant is in our condo while you told me you were working late.
Three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Returned.
It’s not what it looks like.
I almost laughed.
I sent him the video clip.
No caption.
Thirty seconds later, he called again.
This time I answered.
“Claire.”
His voice sounded panicked.
Not ashamed.
“Delete the post.”
“No.”
“You’re putting thirty million dollars at risk.”
“You kissed another woman in our living room.”
“I can explain.”
“Good. Start.”
Silence.
Then Sophie’s voice in the background.
“Grant, don’t.”
I sat straighter.
They were still together.
In my home.
“Are you both still in the condo?”
Grant lowered his voice.
“Claire, please come home.”
“No.”
“I need to speak to you before the board sees more.”
“The board already saw enough.”
He exhaled sharply.
“You don’t know what Sophie’s role actually is.”
“My husband’s mistress seems clear.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
Something in his tone changed.
Fear.
Real fear.
“Then what do you mean?”
Before he answered, another call appeared.
Unknown number.
Chicago.
I ignored it.
Then a Slack message arrived privately from someone I had never spoken to.
Elliot Kane - Kane Meridian Capital
The investment group leading Harbor Bridge’s financing.
His message contained only one sentence.
Do not return to the condo until we speak. Your husband may not be the only person who has been lying to you.
I stared at the screen.
Then Grant whispered into the phone:
“Claire, Sophie has access to things she was never supposed to see.”
My stomach tightened.
“What things?”
He did not answer.
The unknown number called again.
I switched over.
A calm male voice said:
“Mrs. Whitmore?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Elliot Kane. I’m the investor Grant is terrified of losing.”
I looked at Grant’s frozen call waiting on the screen.
“What do you want?”
“To keep you from walking into something dangerous.”
“That sounds dramatic.”
“It is.”
A pause.
Then:
“Your husband didn’t bring Sophie home tonight because he’s in love with her.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“He brought her there because she was looking for something.”
“What?”
Elliot’s answer made the room feel suddenly colder.
“Your original Harbor Bridge design files.”
I stopped breathing.
May you like
Then he added:
“Because someone has been using your old work to hide forty-six million dollars.”
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