Chapter 5 - The Knock on the Office Door
I walked out of the boardroom, leaving Daniel behind in the wreckage of the empire he thought he had stolen from me.
Taking the private elevator back up to my father’s old corner office—a space Daniel had commandeered and redecorated in cold, brutalist chrome—I sat down behind the heavy mahogany desk. For the first time in ten years, the air in this room didn't feel suffocating. It felt like mine.
My phone buzzed on the desk.
An unknown number.
I picked it up and swiped to answer. “Hello?”
“Claire?”
The voice on the other end was breathless, frantic, and entirely unexpected. It was Sarah, Daniel’s corporate administrative assistant—the young woman who had always looked terrified whenever Daniel raised his voice in the hallway.
“Sarah? What’s wrong?” I asked, leaning forward.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn't be calling you on your private line, but Mr. Anderson isn't answering his phone and security just locked him out of his office,” Sarah said quickly, her words tumbling over each other. “There’s... there’s something you need to know about the merger documents from last November.”
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“What about them?”
“Mr. Anderson didn't just divert funds to Ms. Cole's shell company,” Sarah whispered, her voice dropping to a trembling murmur. “Three days before your anniversary trip to Paris, he signed a collateral agreement using your personal trust portfolio as security against a massive private debt he owed to an overseas private equity firm... and if the default hits by midnight tonight, they’re going to seize your father’s estate.”
