Chapter 4 - THE SECRET FROM EIGHT YEARS AGO
Derek lowered the phone.
“What?”
Luke’s voice remained calm.
“The document you just opened. Where did you get it?”
Derek shrugged.
“It’s public record.”
“No, it isn’t.”
A strange pressure filled the room.
Even Daniel turned toward Luke.
Derek forced a laugh.
“Everything’s online.”
“Not that page.”
Luke held out his hand.
“Show me.”
“No.”
That single word changed Luke’s face.
Not much.
Just enough.
“Derek,” he said, “the document you’re holding came from a sealed investigative file.”
Vanessa looked confused.
Daniel did not.
He looked alarmed.
“Luke?”
Luke never took his eyes off Derek.
“The original investigation into Claire’s company included a sealed supplemental report. It was never filed publicly because the evidence was inconclusive.”
My mouth went dry.
I hadn’t known that.
Eight years ago, I had been twenty-nine and six months pregnant.
My startup was exploding in value.
Then, within three weeks, everything collapsed.
Payments vanished.
Numbers stopped matching.
Three executives blamed one another.
I had been the CFO.
My signature was everywhere.
No charges were filed, but the whispers destroyed me.
I resigned before Sophie was born.
Derek had been wonderful then.
Supportive.
Protective.
He told me I never needed to work again.
I had thought it was love.
Now I wondered if it had been strategy.
Luke extended his hand again.
“How did you get the report?”
Derek locked his phone.
“You’re bluffing.”
Luke nodded.
“Okay.”
He took out his own phone.
Derek’s confidence flickered.
“Who are you calling?”
“Nobody yet.”
The last word hung in the air.
Vanessa moved toward Derek.
“What report?”
“Nothing.”
“You said she committed fraud.”
“I said she was investigated.”
“You said you had proof.”
I looked at him.
“Proof of what?”
Derek didn’t answer.
Something shifted inside my chest.
A memory.
Eight years ago.
The night before the company collapsed, Derek had picked me up from the office.
I had left my laptop behind.
He had offered to go upstairs and grab it while I waited in the car because my feet were swollen.
He had been inside twenty minutes.
When he returned, he said security had delayed him.
The next morning, our accounts were wrong.
My hands began shaking.
“Ethan.”
He looked at me.
“Can deleted emails from eight years ago be recovered?”
Derek spun toward me.
“No.”
Not Ethan.
Derek answered.
Everyone noticed.
Ethan slowly closed his laptop.
“Depends where they were stored.”
I stared at my husband.
“Why did you answer?”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“Why did you answer?”
Derek stepped closer.
“Claire, you’re tired.”
That phrase.
He had used it for years whenever I remembered something differently than he did.
You’re tired.
You’re emotional.
You’re confused.
I had accepted those words so many times that I no longer knew when I had started doubting myself.
Vanessa watched us.
Then she laughed softly.
“Oh my God.”
Derek turned.
“Shut up.”
She looked at me instead.
“You really don’t know.”
The room froze.
I took one step toward her.
“Know what?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“Ask your husband where he got the first fifty thousand dollars to start his company.”
Derek’s face became gray.
“Vanessa.”
“Don’t.”
He moved toward her.
Noah blocked him again.
Vanessa backed away.
“He told me you’d never figure it out.”
“Figure out what?”
Her eyes locked on mine.
“Derek didn’t build his company from nothing, Claire.”
May you like
She smiled without humor.
“He built it with your money.”
