Chapter 3 - THE LETTER JULIAN NEVER WROTE
Julian read the letter three times.
Each reading made him colder.
The language sounded like something written by an attorney pretending to sound personal.
There were no private references.
No mention of the lakefront restaurant where Julian and Sarah had spent their first date.
No mention of the ridiculous blue umbrella they had shared during a thunderstorm.
Nothing Julian would have written.
Only rejection.
Threats.
Money.
And his forged signature.
Sarah watched him silently.
Finally, Julian looked up.
“Who gave this to you?”
“A courier.”
“When?”
“Three days after I went to your hotel.”
“Which hotel?”
“The Grand Vance Chicago.”
Julian remembered that week.
He had been in London negotiating an acquisition.
Victoria had been in Chicago.
She had told him Sarah had accepted a job in Seattle and left without saying goodbye.
At the time, Victoria had merely been a family friend.
The daughter of his father’s longtime business partner.
Julian had believed her.
The realization made him sick.
Sarah shook her head.
“You look surprised.”
“I am.”
“I spent five years believing you abandoned us.”
“I spent five years believing you abandoned me.”
Sarah’s face tightened.
“That is not the same thing.”
“No.”
Julian looked toward Leo.
“It isn’t.”
Leo had fallen asleep on the leather sofa.
His cheek rested against his tiny hand.
Julian stared at him.
Four birthdays.
Four Christmas mornings.
First words.
First steps.
Every moment gone.
He could never get them back.
Sarah moved toward Leo.
“We should leave.”
Julian stepped forward.
“Please don’t disappear again.”
Sarah turned.
“I never disappeared.”
That sentence landed hard.
Julian nodded slowly.
“You’re right.”
He took out his phone.
“Then I’m going to find out who made you disappear from my life.”
He called his head of security.
“I want every archived visitor log, surveillance record, courier invoice, and executive-access record from Grand Vance Chicago covering January through March five years ago.”
Sarah stared at him.
“You still have records that old?”
“We keep everything.”
He made another call.
“And freeze every current transaction involving Sterling Holdings.”
That got Sarah’s attention.
“You cannot start a corporate war because of one letter.”
Julian looked at the forged signature.
“This is not one letter.”
“Someone impersonated me.”
“Someone intercepted you.”
“Someone sent you money.”
“And someone knew enough tonight to be terrified before I had even asked a question.”
His phone buzzed.
A security message appeared.
Julian opened it.
His expression darkened.
“What?”
Sarah asked.
Julian turned the screen toward her.
Victoria had not left the estate.
Security had found her in the staff wing.
Inside Sarah’s locker.
May you like
And she had been holding a cigarette lighter beside Sarah’s employee records.
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