Chapter 9 - The Second Phone)
Adrian moved them away from the windows.
Daniel hated being instructed inside a house he had never visited, but he obeyed.
Maya confiscated his phone.
Daniel protested.
“You’re not my attorney.”
“No,” Maya replied. “I’m hers.”
Claire sat at the kitchen table.
The confrontation had answered one question.
Daniel had cheated.
That certainty hurt.
But his presence created ten new questions.
“Tell me everything about Lisbon.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“Vanessa asked me to meet her there.”
“For business?”
“Yes.”
“And afterward you slept with her?”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“Not in Lisbon.”
“Congratulations on the distinction.”
He accepted the insult.
“She said Julian had documents proving Aster executives had hidden failed trial data. She wanted money to disappear.”
“Disappear where?”
“Anywhere her brother couldn’t find her.”
“Why didn’t she go to police?”
“She didn’t trust them.”
“Why trust you?”
Daniel gave a humorless smile.
“She didn’t.”
Claire frowned.
“She wanted leverage.”
“The diary?”
“Probably.”
“What happened the night she disappeared?”
Daniel leaned back.
“We argued.”
“About?”
“You.”
Claire felt something tighten in her chest.
“Me?”
“She wanted me to get access to the Hawthorne protections.”
“For what?”
“To force Aster’s board into disclosure.”
“And you refused?”
“At first.”
Claire stared.
“At first?”
Daniel looked down.
“Aster was already threatening Mercer.”
“How?”
He remained silent.
Maya stepped closer.
“Daniel, this is the part where your instinct to protect your reputation becomes actively dangerous.”
He looked at her.
Then at Claire.
“Mercer Meridian has a liquidity problem.”
“How bad?” Claire asked.
“Bad enough that if Aster closes cleanly, we survive.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
Daniel’s silence answered.
Claire felt suddenly hollow.
“How long have you known?”
“Eleven months.”
“You let me believe everything was fine.”
“I was trying to fix it.”
“You used my trust because your company was failing.”
“I used temporary collateral.”
“Stop calling it temporary as though duration changes consent.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“I was going to restore everything.”
“After making the decision for me.”
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised her.
Claire nodded slowly.
“At least that answer is real.”
Daniel looked at her stomach.
“I was afraid.”
“Of losing the company?”
“Of becoming nothing.”
Claire stared at the man she married.
For years she thought Daniel’s confidence was strength.
Now she understood it might have been terror wearing an expensive suit.
“That doesn’t excuse what you did.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
His voice was quiet.
Claire believed that he believed it.
That was not forgiveness.
Maya’s phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression immediately sharpened.
“Repeat that.”
She listened.
“Send it securely.”
She ended the call.
“What happened?” Claire asked.
“My investigator found a second phone registered under one of Daniel’s corporate travel accounts.”
Daniel looked confused.
“I have one phone.”
“This one was active in Lisbon.”
“That isn’t mine.”
“It was billed to your travel profile.”
Daniel stood.
“Who used it?”
Maya opened a file arriving on her laptop.
“Mostly encrypted messages.”
“To whom?”
“One recurring number.”
“Vanessa?” Claire asked.
Maya shook her head.
“Peter Hale.”
Daniel went still.
Claire looked between them.
“What?”
Maya turned the screen.
“The device transmitted messages to Peter during every one of Daniel’s Lisbon trips.”
Daniel walked closer.
“I never sent those.”
“One was sent while you were at the Altura Grand.”
“What did it say?”
Maya read.
V has the original Aster data. Need recovery before she reaches C.
Claire’s skin prickled.
“C.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Claire.”
Maya opened another.
If D refuses cooperation, use Grayhaven exposure.
Claire stared.
“Someone was impersonating Daniel.”
“Or using a device attached to his profile,” Maya said.
Daniel’s voice became cold.
“Peter.”
Adrian appeared from the hallway.
“We have another problem.”
He placed Claire’s phone on the table.
“What?”
“The unknown sender contacted you again.”
Claire opened the message.
An audio file.
No text.
She pressed play.
Static.
Then a woman’s voice.
Soft.
Breathless.
Terrified.
Claire had never heard Vanessa speak, but she knew.
“Claire, if you’re hearing this, Daniel finally failed to keep the diary away from you.”
Daniel’s face changed.
The recording continued.
“I don’t know what Daniel told you about me. Some of it will be true. He loved me once. He betrayed you with me. That is true too.”
Claire looked at Daniel.
He closed his eyes.
Vanessa continued.
“But there is something Daniel does not understand.”
A pause.
“Peter is not the person he should be afraid of.”
Adrian leaned closer.
The audio crackled.
“If you activated Hawthorne, do not reverse it. No matter what Daniel promises.”
Claire’s fingers curled around the phone.
“Because Aster is not the real target.”
The recording ended.
Claire stared at the screen.
“That’s it?”
Maya checked.
“No. There’s another file.”
Claire pressed it.
May you like
Vanessa’s voice returned.
“The real target is Hawthorne.”
