I didn't sleep.
At two in the morning, I sat beside the hotel window with the financial document spread across the table.
Claire Whitmore.
My maiden name.
Someone had used it to create an account connected to money taken from Pierce Dynamics.
The problem was that the account wasn't mine.
Miriam sat opposite me, reading through the records again.
“There are three possibilities.”
“Tell me.”
“Identity theft.”
“Possible.”
“Someone inside the company created a false trail.”
“More likely.”
“And the third?”
I looked at her.
“Someone wanted Daniel to believe I was stealing from him.”
Miriam nodded.
“That is the one that concerns me.”
I stared through the glass.
The city had become almost silent.
“When did the transfer happen?”
“Six months before the divorce filing.”
“Who knew about our marriage ending then?”
“Daniel.”
“Vanessa.”
“Possibly his attorney.”
“Anyone else?”
Miriam shook her head.
“Not officially.”
I thought about Daniel during those months.
He had become suspicious.
Not of Vanessa.
Of me.
He had started asking questions about money.
Where I kept certain documents.
Why I had separate accounts.
Why some properties were registered under different names.
At the time, I had assumed he was preparing for the divorce.
Now I wasn't sure.
“He asked me once about my father's trust,” I said.
Miriam looked up.
“When?”
“About eight months ago.”
“What did he ask?”
“Whether I had any assets he didn't know about.”
“What did you say?”
“I told him the truth.”
“That you did?”
“I told him I had some private investments.”
Miriam leaned back.
“Did he know about Vale Meridian?”
“No.”
“Did he know about the fourteen companies?”
“No.”
“Then someone else may have known.”
I picked up the document.
“Gregory said the account wasn't ours.”
“He said the account wasn't yours.”
“Right.”
“But he also said the trail ended there.”
I looked at the transfer details.
“Can we find the person who opened it?”
“I'm already trying.”
Miriam picked up her phone.
“There.”
She turned the screen toward me.
A corporate registry.
The company attached to the account had been incorporated two years earlier.
Its listed director was a woman named Evelyn Mercer.
I didn't recognize the name.
“Who is she?”
“I don't know.”
“Find out.”
Miriam nodded.
She began making calls.
I walked to the window.
The reflection staring back at me looked strangely unfamiliar.
For twelve years, I had been Claire Pierce.
Tonight, I was Claire Whitmore again.
Yet someone had apparently been using that name long before I reclaimed it.
My phone rang.
It was Gregory.
I answered.
“Gregory?”
“Claire, I'm sorry.”
“For what?”
“I shouldn't have told you all this.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel knows something is wrong.”
“How?”
“He just called me.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“What did he say?”
“He asked whether I'd spoken to you.”
“And?”
“I lied.”
“Good.”
There was silence.
Then Gregory said, “He knows about the account.”
I closed my eyes.
“How?”
“He said someone showed him documents months ago.”
“What documents?”
“I don't know.”
“Gregory.”
His voice dropped.
“He said they proved you were moving company money.”
I looked at Miriam.
She had stopped typing.
“When did he say he saw them?”
“Before he filed for divorce.”
That confirmed it.
The suspicion had been planted before the divorce began.
Daniel hadn't suddenly decided I was worthless.
Someone had been feeding him a story.
And he had wanted to believe it.
“Gregory, listen carefully.”
“Yes.”
“Do not confront Daniel.”
“I won't.”
“Do not delete anything.”
“I won't.”
“Send Miriam every document you have.”
“I will.”
The call ended.
Miriam looked at me.
“He's scared.”
“He should be.”
She shook her head.
“No. I mean he's scared of something specific.”
I nodded.
“I know.”
A few minutes later, Miriam's phone rang.
She listened.
Then she looked at me.
“It's Arthur.”
“Put him on speaker.”
Arthur's voice came through.
“Claire.”
“Arthur.”
“I apologize for the scene tonight.”
“You did exactly what needed to happen.”
“I asked one question.”
“And it was the right one.”
He was silent for a moment.
Then he said, “Daniel has been calling people.”
“Which people?”
“Investors. Lawyers. Bankers.”
“What is he asking?”
“Whether I knew about your companies.”
“And what did you tell him?”
“That I did.”
I smiled.
“What else?”
“That he should have asked you before signing the divorce agreement.”
Arthur paused.
“Claire, there is something else.”
I waited.
“I have reason to believe Vanessa knows more than she has admitted.”
Miriam looked at me.
“About the companies?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“The money.”
The room seemed colder.
Arthur continued.
“I saw her speaking with someone outside the ballroom.”
“Who?”
“I couldn't identify him.”
“Did she recognize you?”
“Yes.”
“Did she look surprised?”
“No.”
That answer bothered me.
“Arthur, did she seem afraid?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“She looked irritated.”
I understood.
Vanessa wasn't surprised by the financial revelations.
She had been waiting for them.
The question was why.
Arthur gave us one final detail.
“She told someone that Daniel would never discover the truth.”
My stomach tightened.
“What truth?”
“I don't know.”
The call ended.
Miriam stood.
“We need to go back.”
I looked at her.
“To Chicago?”
“Yes.”
“Tonight?”
“Tonight.”
I looked at the clock.
Three forty-seven in the morning.
“No.”
She frowned.
“No?”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because if someone has been watching my movements, going back immediately tells them I'm frightened.”
Miriam considered that.
“You're not frightened.”
“No.”
“Then what are you?”
I looked down at the document bearing my maiden name.
“Curious.”
The next morning, I made one call.
Not to Daniel.
Not to Vanessa.
To the chief executive of one of my fourteen companies.
“Prepare an emergency board meeting.”
“When?”
“Today.”
“Any particular subject?”
“Yes.”
I looked at Miriam.
“Pierce Dynamics.”
The executive hesitated.
“Are we acquiring them?”
“Not yet.”
“Then what are we doing?”
“Finding out who has been trying to make me look like a thief.”
After the call, Miriam placed another document on the table.
“We found Evelyn Mercer.”
I looked at the photograph.
A woman in her late forties.
Brown hair.
Plain features.
Professional clothing.
Nothing about her face was familiar.
“Who is she?”
Miriam slid the next page toward me.
“She worked for Daniel.”
“When?”
“Eight years ago.”
“Position?”
“Executive assistant.”
I stared at the photograph.
“Why did she leave?”
Miriam's answer was quiet.
“She was fired.”
“By Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“Financial misconduct.”
I read the report.
There were accusations.
Missing invoices.
Unapproved transfers.
Nothing conclusive.
But one line caught my attention.
Evelyn had been dismissed after raising concerns about irregular payments involving an outside consultant.
The consultant's name had been redacted.
“Who removed the name?”
“Daniel's legal team.”
I looked up.
“Can we recover it?”
Miriam smiled.
“I already did.”
She handed me another page.
I read the name.
Vanessa Reed.
I sat very still.
The woman Daniel had married that evening wasn't merely his mistress.
She had been connected to financial irregularities years before I knew she existed.
And suddenly, the question was no longer why Daniel had believed I was hiding money.
The question was who had benefited from making him believe it.
Miriam watched me.
“What do you want to do?”
I folded the document carefully.
“Nothing dramatic.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“That's usually when you do something dramatic.”
I stood.
“Let Daniel think he's still fighting me.”
“And us?”
“We investigate.”
“And the fourteen companies?”
“Stay exactly where they are.”
Miriam nodded.
“What about Pierce Dynamics?”
I looked toward the window.
“Let Daniel keep it.”
“For now?”
“For now.”
My phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
You should have taken the settlement and disappeared.
I read it twice.
Then another message appeared.
You don't know who you're dealing with.
I handed the phone to Miriam.
She looked at the screen.
“Can we trace it?”
“Probably.”
“Do you want me to?”
I looked at the words again.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because whoever sent this thinks they're frightening me.”
I deleted the messages.
“Let them keep thinking that.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 5: Daniel Thought I Was Running Away, Until the First Boardroom Report Revealed Who Had Been Quietly Financing His Confidence
The Divorce Decree He Celebrated Was Not the Victory He Believed He Had Won
Part 4 of 12
