Chương 7
“Natalie.”
She looked at him.
“What?”
He did not take his eyes off the screen.
“Cancel every meeting tomorrow.”
“Why?”
Marcus closed the laptop.
“Because I need to find out who has been living with my secrets.”
Marcus did not sleep.
He sat in the corner of his office with the lights turned off, watching the city move below him.
Cars crossed the streets in slow lines.
Office windows turned dark one by one.
People went home to lives that, for a few hours at least, did not involve questions they were afraid to ask.
Marcus had spent years believing uncertainty was something other people experienced.
Employees who waited for decisions.
Competitors who reacted to his moves.
People who needed answers from him.
Now he was the person waiting.
The person reacting.
The person looking at a blurry security image and wondering how many times someone had walked past him carrying information he should have known about.
Natalie sat across from him.
She had not left after seeing his reaction to the footage.
That bothered him more than if she had.
Because Natalie had always been careful.
She knew when to speak.
She knew when to stay quiet.
And tonight, she had chosen to stay.
“You recognized them,” she said.
Marcus looked at the closed laptop.
“Yes.”
“Who was it?”
He did not answer.
Natalie leaned forward slightly.
“Marcus.”
He finally looked at her.
“Why do you want to know?”
Her expression changed.
Not offended.
Concerned.
“Because if someone broke into the archive using your access, I need to know whether I’m sitting in the room with the person who knows what happened or the person trying to find out.”
The honesty caught him off guard.
Most people softened their words around him.
Natalie never did.
“You think I could be involved?”
“I think you taught me not to ignore possibilities.”
He looked away.
The answer was fair.
Too fair.
A year earlier, Natalie had stopped a major contract because she noticed a number that did not make sense.
Everyone else had dismissed it.
She had not.
That was why he trusted her.
That was also why he knew she understood the importance of evidence.
“I need you to leave the office,” Marcus said.
Her eyebrows moved slightly.
“Because you don’t trust me?”
“Because I don’t know who I trust.”
That answer changed something.
Natalie looked at him for a long moment.
Then she nodded.
“That’s probably the first honest thing you’ve said all night.”
She stood.
At the door, she stopped.
“Marcus.”
He looked up.
“If you found something about Emma, don’t handle it alone.”
His face tightened.
“You know about that?”
Natalie hesitated.
A mistake.
Small.
But he saw it.
“How much do you know?”
She looked down.
“Not enough.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No.”
She opened the door.
“It’s the truth.”
After she left, Marcus remained still.
The problem with people who had known him for years was that they carried pieces of his history.
Pieces he could not erase.
Pieces they could use.
His phone buzzed again.
Claire.
This time he answered immediately.
“Are you safe?”
The question came out before he could think.
There was silence.
Then Claire said, “That’s an interesting way to say hello.”
Marcus rubbed his forehead.
“Sorry.”
“There you go again.”
“What?”
“Apologizing before explaining.”
He almost smiled.
“Fine.”
A pause.
“I’m worried.”
“That sounds more like you.”
Marcus looked at the empty office.
“I found something.”
“About Thomas?”
“About my daughter.”
The line went quiet.
Claire did not immediately ask for details.
That surprised him.
Most people wanted information first.
Claire listened first.
“What did you find?”
“A message.”
“What kind of message?”
“Someone inside my organization wrote that Emma may not have died the way we were told.”
Claire inhaled sharply.
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
Then she said, “Marcus.”
The way she said his name made him pay attention.
“What?”
“You need to be careful.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Because everyone is probably right.”
He looked down.
“I don’t know what to believe.”
Claire’s voice softened.
“Neither did Thomas.”
The name changed the air between them.
“Tell me about him.”
A long pause followed.
Not because she did not want to answer.
Because she was choosing where to begin.
“He was annoying.”
Marcus blinked.
“What?”
“He was.”
A small laugh escaped her.
“He would read restaurant reviews before ordering food because he hated wasting money on bad meals.”
Marcus leaned back.
The answer was not what he expected.
“He sounds difficult.”
“He was.”
Another pause.
“He also noticed everything.”
The humor faded.
“He noticed when people were uncomfortable.
He noticed when someone was lying.
He noticed when I was pretending I was okay.”
Marcus listened.
“He started investigating the supply contracts because he thought numbers were being changed.”
“Inside Vale?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t he report it?”
“Because he did.”
The answer was immediate.
“Several times.”
Marcus frowned.
“And?”
“And nobody believed him.”
The words carried anger.
Not loud anger.
The kind that had been sitting quietly for years.
“He was accused of making problems where there weren’t any.”
Marcus looked at the folder on his desk.
“What happened after he was fired?”
Claire was silent.
“He got worse.”
“What does that mean?”
“He became obsessed.”
Marcus did not like the word.
Not because it was impossible.
Because it was convenient.
People often called someone obsessed when they did not want to listen.
“He stopped sleeping.”
Claire continued.
“He kept copies of everything.”
“Where are they?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said you had a notebook.”
“Yes.”
“Only a notebook?”
“No.”
The hesitation returned.
Marcus sat up.
“What else?”
“I found a storage key.”
The answer was quiet.
“Where?”
“In his old apartment.”
Marcus looked at the time.
“Why didn’t you mention this before?”
“Because I don’t know if it’s real.”
“What do you mean?”
“I found it hidden inside a book.”
“That does not make it fake.”
“No.”
May you like
Her voice lowered.
“But the book was one Thomas never owned.”
