Chapter 6 - THE NIGHT ANNA DIEDDaniel placed the coffee down without drinking it.
“Who told you?”
“Victor.”
That was enough.
Daniel sat.
Claire remained standing.
“I’m listening.”
“Anna didn’t die in a random accident.”
Claire felt the room contract around her.
“She was driving home from a meeting with Victor.”
“Why?”
“She found the original land surveys.”
Daniel explained that Anna had been an environmental attorney. After Daniel lost his job, she became suspicious.
She investigated.
The night she died, Anna told Daniel she had evidence proving someone had manipulated geological records.
Daniel had begged her to come home.
She never arrived.
Her brakes failed on Pacific Coast Highway.
Police classified it as mechanical failure.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I couldn’t prove anything.”
“You suspected Victor.”
“I suspected everyone.”
“Including my company?”
“Yes.”
Claire flinched.
Daniel stood.
“When I first saw you on the beach, I knew exactly who you were.”
Claire remembered.
I didn’t care about the billionaire part.
Now the sentence felt different.
“You hated me.”
“No.”
“You thought my company might have helped kill your wife.”
“I thought people inside your company might have.”
“And you still let me near Eli?”
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“I watched you.”
The words stung.
“At first.”
Claire stepped backward.
“So I was an investigation.”
“No.”
“Was the beach accidental?”
“Yes.”
“The dog?”
“Yes.”
“The shower?”
“Yes.”
“Everything?”
“Yes.”
Daniel moved closer.
“What happened between us was not planned.”
“What happened between us?”
His face softened.
“You know.”
Claire looked away.
Daniel continued quietly.
“I spent three years believing attachment was dangerous. Then you walked onto a public beach and accused me of staring at you.”
Despite herself, Claire nearly smiled.
Daniel didn’t.
“You were arrogant. Difficult. Completely impossible.”
“Strong romantic pitch.”
“And then you apologized.”
Claire looked at him.
“You stopped the land pressure when you could have destroyed me. You sat in the sand with Eli. You let him turn your forty-million-dollar house into a toy store.”
“Thirty-eight.”
Daniel blinked.
“What?”
“The house.”
He laughed.
Claire did too.
The tension cracked.
Then Daniel’s expression became serious again.
“I should have told you about Anna.”
“Yes.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“Of losing this.”
He gestured between them.
Claire’s eyes burned.
Before she could answer, her security chief entered.
“Ms. Montgomery.”
His face stopped everything.
“What?”
“We found the vehicle used by the men who set the fire.”
“Where?”
“Abandoned in Oxnard.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Anything inside?”
“A phone.”
Claire waited.
“Who did it call?”
The security chief placed a printed record on the counter.
One number appeared repeatedly.
The number belonged to Montgomery Global’s director of corporate security.
Victor’s closest lieutenant.
Claire immediately contacted federal investigators through outside counsel.
By evening, the situation exploded.
Financial documents connected Victor to offshore transfers.
The security director disappeared.
The board scheduled a vote to permanently remove Claire as CEO.
News vans appeared outside her gates.
Reporters called Daniel an opportunist.
Others accused Claire of using corporate resources to protect a lover.
Then someone leaked photographs of Claire standing outside by her pool in the towel from the morning Daniel’s dog wandered through the hedge.
The image was humiliating.
Claire stared at it on her phone.
Daniel gently took the device away.
“Don’t.”
“Millions of people have seen it.”
“And?”
“I built my reputation on control.”
“Maybe control is overrated.”
Claire looked at him.
“My board votes tomorrow.”
“You scared?”
“Yes.”
Daniel nodded.
“Good.”
She frowned.
“Good?”
“Means you still care.”
Claire sat beside him.
“What if I lose?”
“The company?”
“Everything.”
Daniel considered this.
Then he pointed toward the beach.
Eli and Cooper were chasing waves outside.
“You won’t lose everything.”
Claire followed his gaze.
For years, her identity had been inseparable from Montgomery Global.
Her father had founded it.
Claire had transformed it.
She had sacrificed birthdays, relationships, sleep, vacations.
What remained if the title disappeared?
Daniel seemed to read her thoughts.
“You know what Eli thinks you do for a living?”
Claire shook her head.
“He thinks you fix boats.”
She laughed.
“He told his teacher that.”
“I move global freight.”
“He’s five.”
Daniel took her hand.
“He doesn’t care.”
Claire looked at their joined fingers.
Neither did Daniel.
That realization terrified her more than losing the company.
Because she cared deeply what they thought of her.
The following morning, Claire entered Montgomery Global headquarters.
Victor sat at the opposite end of the boardroom.
“Claire,” he said pleasantly.
She took her seat.
The directors avoided her eyes.
Victor opened the meeting.
Before he could call the vote, Claire placed a flash drive on the table.
“I believe everyone should see something first.”
Victor’s smile vanished.
Claire played Eleanor’s recording.
Then she distributed the forensic records.
The room changed.
Victor stood.
“This meeting is over.”
“No,” Claire said.
“It’s finally beginning.”
Then the doors opened.
Two federal agents entered.
Victor stared at Claire.
For the first time in twelve years, she saw fear in his eyes.
But one of the agents did not approach Victor.
He approached Claire.
“Ms. Montgomery?”
“Yes?”
“We need you to come with us.”
May you like
Victor slowly smiled.
And Claire realized he had prepared one final move.
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