Chapter 4 - THE LAST ARGUMENT
On the drive to Westbrook, Daniel remembered the last night he had seen Claire.
She had arrived during a summer storm, still wearing her Carter Meridian security badge. Her hair was wet, her eyes furious.
“Someone approved nineteen million dollars in consulting transfers using my credentials,” she said.
Vanessa had poured wine without looking up. “Then reset your password.”
“You accessed Dad's trust portal, Vanessa.”
Daniel had been exhausted. Their father had died six months earlier, the company was bleeding, and every room seemed filled with grief.
“Talk to Elliot,” he said.
“Elliot is part of it.”
“Bring me proof.”
Claire stared at him as though he had struck her. “I am trying to stop you from becoming proof.”
The next morning she vanished. Her phone appeared in a rideshare two counties away. Three days later, an email arrived: I need distance. Don't look for me.
Daniel had accepted the comfortable lie.
Now, as the storage facility rose beyond the wet windshield, Noah asked, “If she had shown you proof, would you have chosen her?”
Daniel tightened his grip on the wheel.
May you like
“I don't know.”
Noah nodded once. It was the honest answer, and it hurt them both.
