PART 3
I stepped out into the cold night air, but I didn’t go home.
Not yet.
Home was the townhouse Daniel and I had shared for nine years. The house where I’d cooked his meals, reviewed his contracts, stayed awake until two in the morning preparing financial projections, and watched him turn a small trucking company into something worth millions.
Tonight, I couldn’t bear to walk through its front door.
So I drove to my father’s old lake house.
It had been sitting empty for almost three years.
Daniel hated the place.
He called it “a depressing little cabin in the woods.”
My father had loved it.
He used to take me there when I was a teenager, before he died and left me the inheritance that eventually became the foundation of Prescott Logistics.
I parked beneath the old maple trees and turned off the engine.
For several minutes, I simply sat there.
Then my phone rang.
Daniel.
I didn’t answer.
It rang again.
Then again.
I turned it face down.
A message appeared.
Daniel: Where are you?
Another.
Daniel: Claire, don’t do this.
Another.
Daniel: We need to talk.
I almost laughed.
We needed to talk?
After six years of him calling me a freeloader?
After tonight?
After he had quietly transferred company money to his sister?
I opened my laptop.
The folder on my desktop was labeled:
PRESCOTT — ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
Inside were thousands of files.
Operating agreements.
Bank statements.
Investor communications.
Tax records.
Purchase agreements.
Payroll reports.
Loan documents.
And one document Daniel had forgotten existed.
The original shareholder agreement.
I opened it.
There it was.
Claire Morgan — 51% voting ownership.
Daniel Prescott — 39%.
Employee Trust — 10%.
I stared at those numbers.
Nine years ago, Daniel had been terrified the company would collapse.
He had sat across from me at our kitchen table, his head buried in his hands.
“We’re going to lose everything,” he’d whispered.
I’d looked at him and said, “Then we’ll rebuild.”
I had transferred $640,000 from my inheritance.
I had used my accounting background to restructure the company.
I had negotiated the bank financing.
I had built the employee trust because I believed the workers deserved protection if Daniel and I ever disagreed.
And I’d accepted only one thing in return.
His promise.
That we were partners.
Not just in marriage.
In everything.
But somewhere along the way, Daniel had started believing the company was his.
Then he started believing I was his employee.
And finally, he started believing I was disposable.
I closed the laptop.
My phone rang again.
This time it was Nina.
I answered.
“Tell me.”
Her voice was calm.
“Claire, I want you to listen carefully. We have enough evidence to freeze the unauthorized transfers.”
“How much has he moved?”
“Directly from the company?”
“Yes.”
“About four hundred and twenty thousand over the last seven months.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“And the latest?”
“One hundred eighty thousand this morning.”
“To Melissa?”
“Seventy-five thousand.”
“What about the rest?”
There was a pause.
“Personal investment account.”
I closed my eyes.
“His?”
“Yes.”
I looked out through the window.
The lake was completely still.
“Can he access the operating accounts?”
“Not once the emergency measures are in place.”
“Do it.”
“Nina…”
“Yes?”
“Don’t just freeze the accounts.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Audit everything.”
Her voice became even quieter.
“That’s what I was hoping you’d say.”
I swallowed.
“Every dollar.”
“Every dollar.”
“And Nina?”
“Yes?”
“If you find anything that involves my family personally, don’t warn me.”
She paused.
“What do you mean?”
“I want the truth.”
No matter how ugly it is.
She understood.
“Then you’re going to get it.”
We ended the call.
I thought that would bring me peace.
It didn’t.
Because I knew there was still one thing I had to do.
I had to go home.
Not because I wanted to.
Because Daniel still believed I was leaving with nothing.
And I wanted him to keep believing that.
For now.
