Chapter 1 - The Evidence
The laughter did not return.
Not after the restaurant manager froze the security footage on the exact frame where Brenda’s heel struck my chair.
Not after Connor’s grin appeared on the screen before my face had even hit the salad bowl.
And certainly not after Naomi Reyes turned toward the investors seated around the table.
“Gentlemen, I suggest nobody leave until we’ve documented who was present.”
Connor pushed back his chair.
“You can’t hold us here.”
Naomi remained calm.
“I didn’t say I was holding you.”
She glanced at the uniformed officer.
“I said I was documenting you.”
That distinction terrified him more.
Brenda lowered her champagne glass.
Her fingers trembled.
Only slightly.
But I noticed.
I had spent twelve years noticing details everyone else missed.
It was why Apex Solutions had survived its first three years.
It was why Connor had married me.
And it was probably why he had decided I eventually needed to be removed.
One of the investors, Peter Langford, turned toward Connor.
“You told us Brenwood was an outside consulting firm.”
“It is.”
Naomi slid the incorporation record across the table.
“Then perhaps you can explain why your sister owns one hundred percent of it.”
Nobody spoke.
Connor stared at Brenda.
For one dangerous second, the mask slipped completely.
He wasn’t looking at her like a protective brother.
He was looking at her like an accomplice who had made a mistake.
Then he recovered.
“My wife handled our accounting.”
I almost admired the speed of the lie.
Almost.
Connor pointed at me.
“She had access to everything.”
Naomi looked at me.
“Did you?”
“Until fourteen months ago.”
Connor’s head snapped toward me.
I continued.
“That was when Connor changed the company administrator credentials and told me our cybersecurity contractor required it.”
Peter frowned.
“You never mentioned that.”
Connor ignored him.
Naomi opened her folder again.
“We recovered administrator logs.”
Connor’s face changed.
I had not known that part.
Naomi had deliberately saved it.
“The credentials weren’t changed by a cybersecurity contractor.”
She turned a page.
“They were changed from Mr. Ward’s office computer at 11:17 p.m. on June eighteenth.”
Brenda spoke too quickly.
“So what?”
Naomi looked directly at her.
“Twenty-three minutes later, the first payment to Brenwood Advisory was authorized.”
The room went completely still.
My pulse hammered.
That transfer had happened fourteen months ago.
The same week Connor had convinced me to take a vacation alone because he claimed I was exhausted.
The same week Brenda had volunteered to “help” at Apex.
Suddenly dozens of memories rearranged themselves.
Connor kissing my forehead before I left for Maine.
Brenda promising to watch everything.
My password failing when I returned.
Connor insisting the system had been upgraded.
It had not been an upgrade.
It had been an eviction.
From my own company.
From my own finances.
Eventually, they had intended to evict me from my own house too.
Naomi closed the folder.
“Mr. Ward, all company devices currently in your possession must be surrendered.”
Connor’s jaw tightened.
“My personal phone isn’t company property.”
“That’s correct.”
Naomi nodded toward another investigator.
“But the laptop in your car is.”
Connor froze.
I looked at him.
He had told me he left that laptop at the office.
Naomi noticed my expression.
Apparently, so did Connor.
He reached for his jacket.
“I need my attorney.”
“You should call one.”
Naomi answered.
Then the restaurant manager stepped closer.
“Sir, there’s something else.”
Connor slowly turned.
The manager held up a small black object sealed inside a plastic evidence pouch.
I recognized it immediately.
Connor did too.
His face drained of color.
It was a flash drive.
The manager swallowed.
“One of my employees found this taped beneath Mrs. Ward’s chair before dinner.”
I stared at it.
I had never seen it before.
Naomi held the bag beneath the light.
A strip of white tape was wrapped around the drive.
One word had been written across it in black ink.
CLAIRE.
My name.
Connor whispered something under his breath.
Brenda closed her eyes.
May you like
And that was when I understood.
Whatever was on that drive terrified both of them more than the missing $4.8 million.
