Chương 12
“I know.”
“Estimate.”
“Six, maybe eight.”
“Copies or originals?”
“Copies.”
“Where are the originals?”
“I don’t know.”
I looked at Lena.
“Can Everett’s security hold these?”
Lena chose her words carefully.
“They can secure them if Apex has a legitimate claim of ownership or if Chloe voluntarily turns them over.”
I looked back at Chloe.
“Are you turning them over?”
She hesitated.
That hesitation told me she still believed the cases were leverage.
“Chloe.”
“If I hand them over, I have nothing.”
“You have your testimony.”
She gave a desperate laugh.
“Against Julian Cross?”
“Yes.”
“You really think anyone is going to believe me?”
“I think documents help.”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“Then preserve them properly.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“You sound like your father.”
“I used to hate when people said that.”
“And now?”
“Now I’m too tired to care.”
She looked down.
“I copied one file to a drive.”
I went still.
“Where?”
“In my purse.”
“Did you alter anything?”
“No.”
“Did you send it anywhere?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Cloud backup?”
She blinked.
“I don’t think so.”
“That means you don’t know.”
Her face tightened.
“I’m not a criminal investigator.”
“No, you’re a vice president of strategic transactions.”
The cruelty in my voice surprised me.
I stopped.
She looked at me, wounded and angry.
Good.
Then I hated that thought too.
I rubbed my forehead.
“Sorry.”
She blinked.
“For what?”
“That was unnecessary.”
“You have plenty of reasons to be cruel to me.”
“I’m trying not to become someone who needs them.”
Neither of us said anything for a moment.
Then the elevator doors opened.
Julian stepped out.
Dad and Everett followed several paces behind him.
The instant Julian saw the cases, his face hardened.
“Chloe.”
She moved closer to me.
Not dramatically.
Barely half a step.
I noticed anyway.
So did he.
“What did you tell her?”
Chloe’s jaw tightened.
“The truth.”
Julian laughed without humor.
“Which version?”
Her face went white.
I looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
“It sounded like something.”
He ignored me.
“Give me the cases.”
Chloe shook her head.
“They’re not yours.”
“They contain confidential company information.”
“They contain altered documents.”
Everett stopped beside us.
Dad remained slightly behind me.
Julian’s eyes flashed.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Chloe reached into her purse.
Julian moved instantly.
I did not see his hand rise so much as I saw Lena step between them.
“Sir.”
Julian stopped.
Everyone around us noticed.
The hotel guards straightened.
Chloe’s breathing had become shallow.
She pulled out a small silver USB drive.
“This has the folder you told me to delete.”
Julian’s face emptied.
Nobody spoke.
Dad looked at me.
I kept my eyes on Julian.
“What folder?”
He said nothing.
Chloe answered.
“Project Harbor.”
Everett frowned.
“I’ve never heard that name.”
“You weren’t supposed to.”
Julian looked at her with something close to hatred.
“Shut up.”
Dad’s voice cut through the lobby.
“No.”
Julian turned.
Dad did not raise his voice.
“Whatever else happens tonight, you do not speak to her like that while she’s trying to preserve evidence.”
Julian gave him a furious look.
“You don’t know what she’s done.”
“Then explain it.”
“She leaked internal files.”
“To whom?”
“She’s about to.”
Chloe held up the drive.
“I copied them because he ordered me to delete them.”
Everett looked at Julian.
“Did you?”
“No.”
Chloe stared at him.
“You called me at six thirteen.”
“I told you to clean up duplicative drafts.”
“You said delete Harbor.”
“I said archive obsolete versions.”
“That is not what you said.”
Julian laughed.
“Convenient.”
Her eyes filled.
“Check the call.”
“You didn’t record it.”
“No.”
“Then stop pretending.”
The confidence in his voice returned too quickly.
I had heard that tone in our marriage whenever proof favored him.
I looked at Chloe.
“What happened after the call?”
“I took screenshots.”
Julian’s expression changed.
“Of what?”
“The Slack messages you sent afterward.”
Dad’s eyebrows lifted.
Everett held out his hand.
“Show me.”
Chloe unlocked her phone.
Her fingers shook.
She opened a thread and handed it over.
Everett read silently.
Then he gave the phone to Dad.
Dad scanned the screen.
His jaw tightened.
“What does it say?” I asked.
Dad looked at me.
“Julian instructed her to remove local copies of Project Harbor before morning.”
Julian stepped forward.
“That is not an instruction to destroy evidence.”
Dad handed the phone to me.
The message was short.
Clean your laptop tonight.
Harbor cannot still be sitting there when they start pulling devices tomorrow.
Below it, Chloe had replied, Understood.
My stomach turned.
I looked at her.
“You replied understood.”
“Yes.”
“So you knew what he meant.”
Her face crumpled for half a second.
“Yes.”
That mattered.
She was not pretending innocence anymore.
I handed the phone back.
Everett looked at the guards.
“Secure the cases.”
Chloe immediately said, “I consent.”
One guard picked them up.
Everett pointed to the other.
“Witness the transfer and document exactly what was received.”
Julian stared at him.
“You have no authority over Cross Meridian documents.”
“Then your counsel can request them.”
“I am calling the police.”
Everett shrugged.
“Please do.”
That stopped him.
Dad looked at Chloe.
“The drive.”
She clutched it.
“It’s my only copy.”
“Then don’t hand it to anyone in a hotel lobby.”
She looked at me.
“What do I do?”
I almost turned toward Dad.
The reflex embarrassed me.
Instead, I forced myself to think.
“Make no more copies.”
She nodded.
“Don’t plug it into anything.”
“All right.”
“Don’t send the files.”
“All right.”
“Put it in an envelope.”
Lena was already moving toward the reception desk.
“And call a lawyer who represents you, not the company.”
Chloe swallowed.
“I don’t have one.”
Dad said, “I can give you names.”
I turned.
“No.”
He looked mildly offended.
“Why?”
“Because then Julian claims she’s coordinating with you.”
Dad considered that.
“Fair.”
Julian looked between us.
May you like
“You’re all behaving as though I committed a crime.”
Everett answered.
