Chapter 5: What Derek Was Really After
Elena answered the call on speaker.
She set the phone on the dining table, face up, and took one step back.
"Clara." The voice was smooth, unhurried.
Male.
"I need to know if it's done.
Did you use the information?"
Clara looked at Elena.
Elena gave one small nod.
"Not yet," Clara said.
Her voice was steady.
Barely.
"We're running out of time.
The fundraiser is in three weeks.
Once Alderton signs with Vance's firm, the window closes." A pause.
"I need you to create a problem for him.
Something that makes Alderton nervous.
A rumor.
A suggestion that his personal life is unstable.
That's all."
"What kind of suggestion?"
"The affair.
Use it.
Let it reach Alderton's people.
You don't have to do anything dramatic.
Just make sure the right person hears the right thing before the event."
Julian stepped back into the doorway.
He had ended his own call.
He stood without moving, listening.
"And if I do that," Clara said, "what do I get?"
"What we agreed.
Twelve months of financial support.
Direct transfer.
No paper trail."
Clara closed her eyes for a moment.
"How long have you been planning this?"
"Long enough." Derek's tone didn't shift.
"Clara, this is simple.
Your brother cut you off today.
I know that.
I have someone outside the house." A beat.
"You need money.
I have it.
All you have to do is make one phone call to the right person."
The room went absolutely silent.
Julian walked to the table.
He leaned down toward the phone.
"Hello, Derek," he said.
Three full seconds of silence.
"Mr.
Vance." Derek's voice didn't crack.
That was the most frightening thing about it.
"I see."
"Someone outside the house," Julian said.
"Which side of the street?"
Derek disconnected.
Julian straightened up.
He looked at Elena.
She was already typing on her own phone.
"I'm sending the recording to David Marsh," she said.
David Marsh was their attorney.
"And I'm calling the Alderton account manager directly.
Tonight."
"I'll call the partners."
"Julian." She looked up from her phone.
"This was coordinated.
Derek knew about the affair before Clara told him anything.
He had to.
He used it as bait to recruit her." She set her phone down.
"Someone inside your firm gave him that information."
Julian didn't move.
"The affair wasn't the real threat," Elena continued.
"It was the recruitment tool.
He needed someone close to you who was already angry.
Clara was the easiest option."
Clara sat down heavily in the dining chair.
The one Aria had been sitting in.
She looked at the floor.
"I thought he was helping me," she said.
Nobody answered her.
"I genuinely thought—" Her voice broke.
She pressed her hand over her mouth.
Chloe appeared in the hallway entrance.
She had heard everything.
Her face was pale, her eyes red from earlier.
She looked at her mother the way a child looks at a parent when the last version of them they trusted has just dissolved.
"Mom," she said quietly.
"What did you do?"
Clara looked at her daughter.
Her mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Julian picked up the tablet from the end table.
The one with the video still saved on it.
He looked at it for a long moment.
Then he looked at his sister.
"I'm going to take Aria home," he said.
"Tomorrow, I'll deal with Derek and whoever is leaking from my firm.
But tonight—" He paused.
"Tonight I'm going to sit with my daughter and let her fall asleep knowing she's safe."
He walked to the armchair and lifted Aria carefully, her head falling against his shoulder without waking.
Elena held the front door open.
As Julian passed Clara, he stopped for one moment.
"I'm not going to destroy you," he said quietly.
"But I'm also not going to save you from this.
Whatever Derek told you he'd give you — it's gone.
And whatever you thought you had on me — Elena already knows.
So you have nothing left to threaten us with.
Nothing."
Clara stared at the floor.
Julian walked out.
The door closed behind them.
Not slammed.
May you like
Just closed.
And in the silence of her own living room, Clara sat alone with her phone and her scissors and the hair still scattered across the tiles, while Chloe stood in the hallway and said nothing at all.
