Chapter 4 - FIRE ON THE BEACHClaire was running before security could stop her.
She crossed the sand barefoot as orange light spread beneath Daniel’s porch.
“Daniel!”
The front door flew open.
Daniel appeared carrying Eli.
Smoke rolled behind them.
“Get back!”
Claire reached them as her security team arrived with extinguishers.
Cooper barked wildly from inside.
“Cooper!” Eli screamed.
Daniel handed Eli to Claire.
“Take him.”
Then he turned toward the house.
Claire grabbed his arm.
“No.”
“My dog’s inside.”
“Daniel—”
He pulled free.
Claire held Eli against her while Daniel disappeared through the smoke.
The boy trembled.
“Daddy!”
Claire had negotiated during coups, labor riots, and corporate raids.
Nothing had ever frightened her like the small body shaking in her arms.
Thirty seconds.
Forty.
Then Daniel emerged coughing, Cooper struggling against his chest.
Eli burst into tears.
Firefighters arrived minutes later.
The blaze was contained before reaching the main structure.
The investigation quickly changed everything.
Accelerant had been poured beneath the porch.
This was not faulty wiring.
Someone had deliberately started the fire.
Daniel sat in Claire’s kitchen at 2:00 a.m. while Eli slept upstairs with Cooper beside him.
Claire placed coffee in front of Daniel.
“You’re staying here.”
“No.”
“Your house is a crime scene.”
“I’ll get a hotel.”
“Your son is asleep.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“You always give orders?”
“Yes.”
“That explains a lot.”
Despite everything, Claire smiled.
Then her security chief entered.
“We found this.”
He placed a partially burned envelope on the table.
Inside was a photocopy of Montgomery Global’s development plan.
Across it, someone had written:
SELL.
Daniel looked at Claire.
She felt ice move through her stomach.
“You think my company did this.”
“I don’t know what to think.”
“I would never—”
“I know you wouldn’t.”
The immediate answer surprised her.
Daniel looked exhausted.
“But somebody wants me gone.”
Claire called Victor Lang.
At two in the morning.
He answered on the fourth ring.
“This had better be—”
“Daniel Mercer’s house was set on fire.”
Silence.
Claire listened carefully.
Victor finally said, “Is everyone safe?”
“Yes.”
“Then call the police.”
“I did.”
“What do you expect from me?”
“The truth.”
“About what?”
“Has anyone at Montgomery Global continued pressure on Parcel 7B after I ordered it stopped?”
“No.”
Too quickly.
Claire’s eyes narrowed.
“I’m auditing every communication connected to that project.”
Another silence.
Then Victor laughed softly.
“You’ve become emotionally compromised.”
“Be careful.”
“You’re threatening your chairman over a beach house.”
“I’m warning him.”
Claire ended the call.
Daniel had heard enough.
“He knows something.”
“I think so.”
“You can’t prove it.”
“Not yet.”
Morning brought reporters.
Somehow they learned that Daniel and Eli had spent the night at Claire Montgomery’s house.
By noon, photographs appeared online.
BILLIONAIRE’S SECRET MALIBU MAN.
Daniel hated it.
Claire could tell.
He stood beside the kitchen window while Eli ate pancakes.
“I don’t want him photographed.”
“I’ll handle it.”
“You can’t control the entire internet.”
“No. But I can make photographers regret trespassing.”
Daniel glanced at her.
“That was almost terrifying.”
“Almost?”
“Work on it.”
Claire smiled.
Over the next week, Daniel and Eli stayed in Claire’s guest wing while repairs began.
The arrangement changed the house.
There were toy cars beneath the sofa.
Cereal appeared beside imported coffee.
Cooper left golden hair on furniture selected by an Italian designer who would probably have fainted.
And Claire loved it.
She discovered Eli hated crusts.
Daniel cooked terrible scrambled eggs.
Cooper stole socks.
Daniel discovered Claire worked until 1:00 a.m. most nights.
One evening, he closed her laptop.
Claire stared at him.
“Did you just—”
“Yes.”
“I was working.”
“You were staring at the same spreadsheet for twelve minutes.”
“You were watching me?”
“I was making tea.”
“You don’t drink tea.”
“Then I was definitely watching you.”
Silence.
Something changed.
Daniel stood close.
Claire became suddenly aware of the ocean beyond the glass and the quiet house around them.
His eyes dropped briefly toward her mouth.
Then returned to her eyes.
“Claire.”
Her phone rang.
She nearly cursed.
It was her general counsel.
She answered.
“Tell me.”
“We found something.”
Daniel stepped back.
Claire listened.
Her attorney continued.
“Three shell companies purchased property surrounding the proposed retreat before Montgomery Global publicly announced the project.”
“Whose companies?”
“We’re tracing them.”
“Give me what you have.”
A file arrived.
Claire opened it.
One company had received financing through a private trust.
She recognized the trustee.
Victor Lang.
But another name appeared beneath his.
Daniel Mercer.
Claire stared at the screen.
Then slowly looked toward the man standing in her kitchen.
“Daniel.”
His expression changed.
“What?”
Claire turned the laptop around.
“Why is your name connected to Victor Lang?”
Daniel looked at the document.
The color left his face.
May you like
And the first thing he said made Claire’s stomach drop.
“I was hoping you’d never find that.”
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