Chapter 3 - The Woman at the Door
Nobody knew Natalie Brooks.
Except Daniel.
That was obvious.
His face had changed the instant he saw her.
Margaret's had too.
“You need to leave,” Margaret said.
Natalie gave her a cold smile.
“You said that the last time.”
My stomach tightened.
“You know her?”
Margaret didn't answer.
Natalie walked into the ballroom.
She wasn't dramatic about it.
That made the moment worse.
She simply crossed the floor while guests moved aside.
When she reached me, she handed me the envelope.
“I almost didn't come.”
I looked inside.
Bank statements.
Loan applications.
Emails.
A photograph of Daniel from several years earlier.
And a court filing.
“What is this?”
Natalie looked at him.
“My former fiancé.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Daniel shook his head.
“We dated. That's all.”
Natalie laughed once.
“We had a wedding date.”
Margaret stepped forward.
“This woman has been obsessed with Daniel for years.”
Natalie's expression didn't change.
“That's what you told people after he emptied our joint account.”
I looked at Daniel.
“Joint account?”
“It wasn't like that.”
Natalie pointed toward the envelope.
“The documents are there.”
Charles had moved closer.
So had Leonard, Harrison Logistics' CFO.
Natalie continued.
“Daniel convinced me we were buying a condo together. He said putting certain accounts in his name would simplify financing. Then he tried to use my employer information to secure a private loan.”
My hands tightened around the papers.
The pattern was suddenly impossible to ignore.
Daniel didn't want a wife.
He wanted access.
Margaret looked around the room.
“Are we seriously allowing a bitter ex-girlfriend to destroy a wedding?”
“No,” I said.
“You already did that.”
She stared at me.
Natalie leaned closer.
“I came because someone contacted me yesterday.”
“Who?”
She glanced toward Charles.
“I don't know.”
Charles frowned.
“It wasn't me.”
“The message said Daniel was getting married today and that his fiancée might be in danger of making the same mistake.”
Daniel laughed nervously.
“This is absurd.”
Natalie reached into her purse.
“I thought so too.”
She removed her phone.
“Until they sent me this.”
She showed me a photograph.
Daniel and Margaret sat at a restaurant table.
The timestamp was twelve days earlier.
Beside Margaret was a man I recognized immediately.
Leonard Price.
Our CFO.
I looked up.
Leonard had gone white.
Charles turned toward him.
“What is this?”
Leonard swallowed.
“A business dinner.”
“With my Operations Director's fiancé?”
“No.”
“Then what business?”
Nobody answered.
Charles's voice became quiet.
“Leonard.”
Margaret suddenly spoke.
“This has nothing to do with Emma.”
I almost smiled.
“You demanded my job ten minutes ago.”
Margaret realized the mistake.
Charles looked between them.
“Someone accessed confidential Harrison files using Emma's credentials. Now I'm looking at a photograph of my CFO meeting with the man who had access to her computer.”
Daniel pointed at Natalie.
“You don't even know where that picture came from.”
“No,” I said.
“But I know where we're going next.”
He stared at me.
“Where?”
“Nowhere together.”
I handed the envelope to Charles.
“I want corporate security involved.”
Leonard stepped forward.
“Emma, let's be careful.”
That was the wrong thing to say.
Charles turned on him.
“You're suspended effective immediately.”
Leonard's mouth dropped open.
“You can't—”
“I just did.”
The ballroom erupted again.
Then Daniel made his biggest mistake.
He looked at Leonard.
Not Margaret.
Not me.
Leonard.
And he said, “You promised this wouldn't happen.”
Silence.
Charles stared at them.
I almost couldn't believe it.
“What did he promise?”
Daniel realized too late what he had said.
“Nothing.”
“Daniel.”
“Nothing!”
The shout echoed beneath the chandeliers.
For the first time all day, his polished image disappeared completely.
Security approached.
Margaret grabbed her son's arm.
“We're leaving.”
I stepped in front of them.
“No.”
Margaret stared at me.
“You don't tell us what to do.”
“I'm not talking to you.”
I looked at Daniel.
“My house key.”
His expression changed.
“Emma.”
“Now.”
“We live together.”
“No. You live in my house.”
“Half my belongings are there.”
“You can arrange to collect them with a third party present.”
His face twisted.
“You can't throw me out.”
“My name is on the deed.”
Margaret scoffed.
“Which is exactly why condition two was necessary.”
Half the ballroom reacted at once.
Even Margaret seemed to hear herself.
I almost admired the arrogance.
Almost.
Daniel pulled a key from his pocket and slammed it onto the table.
“There.”
I picked it up.
Then he leaned close.
“You're going to regret this.”
I looked into the face of the man I had nearly married.
“No, Daniel.”
I glanced at the ring lying between us.
“I think I just prevented the biggest regret of my life.”
He left with Margaret.
Leonard followed separately, escorted by hotel security.
The wedding was over.
But the investigation was only beginning.
An hour later, I was upstairs in the bridal suite wearing sweatpants beneath a hotel robe when Rebecca knocked.
My father was sitting beside me.
Charles had already called Harrison's legal counsel.
The company was locking every account associated with me and Leonard.
Rebecca entered holding my laptop.
“You need to see something.”
She set it down.
Our IT director had remotely reviewed the security logs.
There had been more than one unauthorized login.
Seven.
Five originated from my home.
Two originated from Harrison headquarters after midnight.
Someone had accessed vendor contracts, acquisition forecasts, personnel files, and something called Project Northstar.
I had never heard of Project Northstar.
Charles had.
When I called him, he went silent.
“What is it?”
“Not over the phone.”
“Charles.”
Another pause.
“It's an acquisition.”
“Of what?”
“A regional shipping company.”
My heart sank.
“Who knows?”
“Six people.”
“Leonard?”
“Yes.”
“Me?”
“No.”
That mattered.
If Daniel had accessed Northstar using my credentials, he hadn't learned about it from me.
Someone inside Harrison had deliberately used my account.
“What's the acquisition worth?”
Charles answered quietly.
“Approximately four hundred million dollars.”
Rebecca sat beside me.
My father stopped pacing.
Then Charles said something that changed the entire situation.
“Emma, the target company's stock has been moving strangely for three weeks.”
I understood immediately.
“Insider trading.”
“Possibly.”
“And somebody made it look like I stole the information.”
“Yes.”
I stared at my wedding dress hanging across the room.
Twenty-four hours earlier, I had thought my biggest problem was whether the florist had delivered the correct roses.
Now my fiancé, his mother, and my company's CFO appeared connected to stolen corporate information.
But one question remained.
Who had warned Natalie?
At 11:47 that night, I got the answer.
An anonymous email appeared in my inbox.
No subject.
No signature.
Just one sentence.
You exposed the wrong person first.
Beneath it was a photograph.
Daniel.
Leonard.
Margaret.
And a fourth person.
May you like
Someone I trusted enough that seeing his face made my blood run cold.
My father.
