Chapter 6: The Leak Inside the Wall
Julian called his senior partner, Robert Fenn, from the car.
Elena drove.
Aria slept across the back seat, her head on Julian's folded jacket, her breathing slow and even.
"Robert, I need you to pull everyone who had access to the Alderton file in the last six months."
A pause on the line.
"Julian, it's nearly eight o'clock."
"I know what time it is."
Another pause.
Longer.
"How much do you know?"
Julian's hand tightened around the phone.
"Tell me what you know first."
Silence.
"Robert."
"There was an inquiry," Robert said finally.
"Three months ago.
Someone posing as a due diligence firm contacted two of our junior associates.
Asked general questions about client activity.
We flagged it internally and thought we'd contained it."
"You thought."
"We didn't believe anything material had been shared."
"Someone named Derek, working for Marcus Hale, knew the date of the Alderton fundraiser.
That date was set four days ago." Julian kept his voice level.
"It wasn't contained."
The line was quiet for a long time.
"I'll pull the access logs tonight," Robert said.
"I want names by morning."
"Julian—"
"Names, Robert.
By morning."
He ended the call.
Elena glanced at him from the driver's seat.
"He knew already."
"He suspected."
"That's worse."
"Yes." Julian looked out the window.
The streetlights were coming on, one by one, as they moved through the neighborhood toward home.
"Someone in that office has been feeding information for at least three months.
Maybe longer.
And Robert sat on it."
"Can you prove Derek is connected to Hale directly?"
"Not yet.
But Derek said Meridian Capital.
I looked it up while you were on the phone with David.
Meridian Capital was dissolved fourteen months ago.
It doesn't exist."
Elena's hands were steady on the wheel.
"So he's a ghost."
"He's a ghost with a Range Rover and someone watching Clara's house."
"Julian." She said his name the way she had in Clara's living room.
Not as a warning.
As a marker.
This is the part that matters.
"The affair.
I need to talk about it."
He turned to look at her profile in the dark of the car.
"Not tonight," she said.
"Tonight we get Aria home.
But soon."
"Yes."
"I'm not going to pretend I'm not hurt.
I am." Her voice didn't waver.
"But I'm also not going to let Clara use it as a weapon.
Those are two different things and I know how to keep them separate."
"I know you do."
"I need you to tell me everything.
Not what Clara has.
Everything."
"I will."
She nodded once.
Her eyes stayed on the road.
In the back seat, Aria stirred, murmured something soft and shapeless, and went still again.
Julian watched his daughter sleep.
The jagged edges of her hair caught the passing streetlight in a way that made his chest tighten all over again.
His phone lit up.
A text from an unknown number.
*You should have let her keep the tablet.*
Julian stared at the message.
May you like
Then he took a screenshot, forwarded it to David Marsh, and turned the phone face-down on his knee.
They were still being watched.
