Chapter 4 - THE DOCUMENT WITH CLAIRE’S ADDRESS
Harrison suspended Rachel the same afternoon.
She called me at 4:17.
I almost ignored it.
Then answered.
“Claire.”
Her voice shook.
“We need to talk.”
Everyone suddenly needed to talk after five years of silence.
“About?”
“Daniel.”
“No.”
A pause.
“The investigation.”
“Use your lawyer.”
“Claire, please.”
Something in her voice made me continue.
“Five minutes.”
She exhaled.
“I did not steal from Harrison.”
“I didn’t say you did.”
“The seller retained my firm separately.”
“While you worked on Harrison’s acquisition team.”
“It was market consulting.”
“Then disclose it.”
Silence.
There.
“Why didn’t you?”
“The rules were unclear.”
I almost laughed.
Rachel had always been clever enough to understand rules when they benefited her.
Then she said:
“Daniel signed off.”
My stomach tightened.
“On what?”
“My outside work.”
“Does he have authority?”
“He was regional strategy director.”
“Not compliance.”
Silence.
Then:
“He knew I had clients.”
Different statement.
Not he knew this client.
Careful wording.
“Rachel.”
“Yes?”
“Did you know I was at Mercer Ridge?”
Long pause.
“Yes.”
At least truth.
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I thought Daniel knew.”
“Did you ask?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Another pause.
Then:
“Because when I showed him the article, he laughed.”
That was new.
“What did he say?”
Rachel’s voice became quiet.
“He said, ‘That can’t be my Claire. She barely leaves the house.’”
My chest tightened.
Not because he doubted me.
Because she let him.
“You knew it was me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I recognized your suit.”
“What?”
“The navy one.”
My old suit.
The one I wore to Mercer Ridge after Daniel left.
Rachel had helped me pick it for CPA interviews in college.
She knew.
And chose silence.
“Why?”
“Because I was angry.”
Finally.
“About what?”
“You disappeared too.”
I almost laughed.
“I disappeared?”
“You stopped calling.”
“You left with my husband.”
“He asked me.”
“And you said yes.”
Silence.
Then Rachel’s voice changed.
“I thought you had everything.”
There it was.
Old resentment.
“Daniel.”
“The house.”
“His family.”
“Time.”
“You chose to stay home.”
I closed my eyes.
She had believed Daniel’s story too.
That I chose.
Maybe I once said I did.
Because admitting your husband slowly convinced you to abandon your career is harder than calling it a joint decision.
Then Rachel said:
“You were always the one who won.”
That surprised me.
“Won what?”
“College. Jobs. Daniel.”
Daniel as prize.
What a terrible framing.
Then:
“When he asked me to Frankfurt, I thought—”
She stopped.
“What?”
“I thought for once someone chose me first.”
There.
Not necessarily affair.
Something emotional.
Something ugly.
Then I asked directly.
“Did you sleep with him?”
“No.”
Immediate.
I believed her more than expected.
“Did you want to?”
Silence.
That was answer enough.
Then Rachel said:
“He never saw me that way.”
Strangely painful.
She had crossed an ocean for a man who still called me every Sunday.
Maybe both women had been reduced by him differently.
Then she whispered:
“There’s something you need to know about RC Advisory.”
“What?”
“I didn’t create it alone.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
She hesitated.
Then:
“Daniel.”
No.
He had told me he knew she had clients.
Not that he co-owned the company.
“How much?”
“Forty percent.”
I stared at the wall.
“And he didn’t disclose it.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because the shares aren’t under his name.”
“Whose?”
Rachel hesitated.
Then whispered:
“Yours.”
May you like
My entire body went cold.
My husband had apparently used my identity in Germany.
