Chương 6
“You are lying.”
Eleanor looked tired.
“I know someone named Claire.”
“Who?”
“She worked for Sterling Holdings.”
“What happened to her?”
Eleanor did not answer.
Genevieve waited.
Finally, Eleanor sat down.
“She was an internal auditor.”
“Like me.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“She found irregularities.”
“And?”
“She reported them.”
Genevieve already knew the rest before Eleanor said it.
“She lost her job.”
“No.”
Eleanor looked at the photograph.
“She lost more than that.”
The room became still.
“What does that mean?”
“Claire disappeared from the industry.”
“People do not disappear from an industry.”
“They do when every company receives a quiet warning not to hire them.”
Genevieve felt a coldness move through her.
“Julian destroyed her career.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she was looking at the same things you were.”
Genevieve picked up the photograph again.
“Where is she now?”
“I do not know.”
“You said you knew her.”
“I knew her before.”
Eleanor rubbed her forehead.
“I tried to help her.”
“But?”
“She did not want help.”
“Why?”
“Because she was afraid.”
The answer frustrated Genevieve.
Everyone was afraid.
Marcus.
Claire.
Eleanor.
Even Victoria.
Fear had become the invisible weapon Julian used better than money.
“What did Claire find?”
Eleanor hesitated.
“Something involving a company acquisition.”
“Which company?”
“I do not know.”
Genevieve looked at the photograph.
“Everyone knows something.”
“Genevieve.”
“No.”
Her voice remained calm.
That made it more serious.
“I spent two years listening to people tell me they could not do anything.”
Eleanor did not interrupt.
“I believed them for a while.”
She folded the photograph.
“Then I realized something.”
“What?”
“They were not all powerless.”
Genevieve looked toward the window.
“They were all protecting something.”
Eleanor studied her.
“And what are you protecting?”
The question surprised her.
Genevieve looked down.
For a long moment, she did not answer.
Finally, she said, “The person I was before him.”
Eleanor’s expression softened.
“That is the first honest thing you have said all morning.”
Genevieve almost objected.
Then she stopped.
Because it was true.
She had spent every conversation talking about proving Julian wrong.
About destroying his reputation.
About making him pay.
But underneath all of that was something simpler.
She wanted proof that she had not been the person everyone claimed she was.
She wanted her own name back.
That afternoon, Genevieve received another message.
This time from Marcus.
Do not contact Claire.
She knows too much.
Genevieve stared at the screen.
A second message appeared.
And she is not the only one who is scared.
Before Genevieve could reply, the message disappeared.
Deleted.
She looked at Eleanor.
“Can someone erase a text after sending it?”
“Sometimes.”
“Why?”
Eleanor picked up her coat.
“Because they regret sending it.”
“Or?”
“Because someone else made them regret it.”
Genevieve looked at the empty message thread.
For the first time, the person she feared most was not Julian.
It was the possibility that Julian had not been the only person controlling the story.
It was the possibility that Julian had not been the only person controlling the story.
The thought followed Genevieve through the next day like a shadow.
She had spent years believing her enemy had one face.
Julian.
One person.
One betrayal.
One carefully constructed lie.
But now the edges were changing.
And changing the shape of the enemy made everything more dangerous.
Eleanor spent the morning making calls.
She did not tell Genevieve who she was calling.
Genevieve did not ask.
That was another thing prison had taught her.
Not every answer came faster when demanded.
Sometimes people revealed more when they believed they still had control.
Genevieve used the time to return to the financial records.
She printed every document connected to Northbridge Risk Solutions.
The printer made a terrible grinding sound.
She stared at it.
“You are the first thing in this apartment that has honestly told me it is broken,” she muttered.
A few minutes later, Eleanor walked in carrying two coffees.
“You are talking to office equipment now.”
“It started it.”
Eleanor placed a cup beside her.
“That is concerning.”
“I have been surrounded by people who lie for years.”
“Fair point.”
The small exchange felt strange.
Before prison, Genevieve would have found it meaningless.
Now she noticed moments where life was not about surviving.
She hated how much she missed them.
Eleanor looked through the printed documents.
“Northbridge has existed for fifteen years.”
“Nothing unusual?”
“Not at first glance.”
“Which means?”
“Which means the unusual parts are probably hidden.”
Genevieve nodded.
She moved the pages around.
“Look at these dates.”
Eleanor leaned closer.
The first payment happened three weeks before Victoria’s accident.
The second happened four days after the police investigation began.
The third happened two days before Genevieve’s trial started.
“Why would Julian keep paying an investigator after the accusation was already made?” Eleanor asked.
Genevieve looked at the screen.
“That is the question.”
“What are the possible answers?”
“He was gathering evidence.”
“Against you?”
“Maybe.”
“Or?”
Genevieve did not answer immediately.
The second possibility was the one she did not want to say aloud.
He was controlling the investigation.
Eleanor understood anyway.
“He wanted to know what people knew.”
Genevieve nodded.
A person who was innocent wanted the truth discovered.
A person who was guilty wanted to know where the truth was hiding.
The difference was not always visible.
But it mattered.
Her phone rang.
This time, she answered.
“Hello?”
A woman’s voice came through.
“Is this Genevieve Sterling?”
“Yes.”
There was a pause.
A nervous one.
“My name is Claire Morgan.”
Genevieve stood.
Eleanor looked at her.
“Where are you?”
Claire ignored the question.
“You received the photograph.”
Genevieve’s grip tightened around the phone.
“How do you know that?”
“Because I sent it.”
Eleanor moved closer.
“Why?”
Claire breathed out slowly.
“Because I made a mistake.”
The words sounded practiced.
Not because they were fake.
Because she had repeated them to herself many times.
“What mistake?”
“I thought exposing him would be enough.”
“Exposing who?”
May you like
“Julian.”
Genevieve closed her eyes briefly.
