Chương 8
“Where did you get this?”
“I told you.”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“You told me you asked someone.”
Daniel hesitated.
“Who?”
Another pause.
“Mara.”
“Who?”
“Security.”
“That’s not possible.”
“Why?”
“Because security would not hand over internal footage to someone without authorization.”
“They didn’t.”
She stood.
“What did you do?”
“I asked.”
“Daniel.”
“I asked someone who owed me a favor.”
“That is not better.”
“I know.”
The answer was immediate.
That stopped her.
Daniel sounded exhausted.
Not defensive.
Not angry.
Just tired.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For what?”
“For knowing things and not telling you.”
The honesty made it harder to stay angry.
“Why didn’t you?”
Daniel did not answer right away.
When he finally spoke, his voice was lower.
“Because I saw what happened to people who challenged Evelyn.”
Mara leaned against the kitchen counter.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Halden & Pierce looks like a place where everyone has power.”
Daniel swallowed.
“But it isn’t.”
She listened.
“Evelyn built that firm. She built the culture. She built the reputation. People think partners can disagree with her because they argue in meetings.”
He paused.
“They don’t see what happens after.”
Mara stared at the folder.
“Did something happen to you?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
She noticed.
“Daniel.”
“Nothing happened to me.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Silence.
A long one.
Then he said, “I lost a promotion.”
“Because of Evelyn?”
“Because I disagreed with a decision she made.”
“That’s not enough information.”
“No.”
His voice became frustrated.
“It’s never enough information with you.”
She flinched slightly.
Because there was truth in it.
Daniel continued before she could respond.
“You want every piece before you believe anything.”
“Yes.”
“That’s why you’re good at your job.”
“And?”
“And sometimes people are not documents, Mara.”
The sentence stayed with her.
She looked at the photograph again.
People were not documents.
People were messy.
Contradictory.
Incomplete.
That was why this was so difficult.
A document could be examined.
A person could lie while telling the truth.
“Daniel,” she said quietly.
“Did you ever think I could have done it?”
The question surprised him.
“No.”
“Not even for a second?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Another pause.
“Because you’re many things.”
She almost smiled.
“Thank you.”
“I wasn’t finished.”
“Of course not.”
“You’re stubborn.”
He continued.
“You’re impossible when you think you’re right.”
“You work until you forget you’re human.”
“And you have a terrible habit of believing you can carry everything alone.”
Mara looked away.
“But stealing evidence?”
Daniel’s voice softened.
“No.”
The simplicity of it hurt.
“I never thought that.”
After the call ended, Mara stayed in the kitchen.
The apartment was quiet again.
Not peaceful.
Just quiet.
She looked around at the familiar things.
The chair with the loose leg she kept meaning to fix.
The stack of unopened mail.
The mug she had bought because the handle looked like a crooked smile.
Her life looked normal.
That was the strangest part.
A person could have everything collapse while the room stayed exactly the same.
Her phone buzzed.
Victor.
She almost did not answer.
Then she remembered the folder.
She answered.
“What did you do?”
A pause.
Victor sounded confused.
“That’s a dangerous way to start a conversation.”
“You gave me a folder.”
“Yes.”
“Someone photographed it before you gave it to me.”
Silence.
Not a long silence.
A revealing one.
“You saw the photograph.”
Mara’s expression changed.
“How do you know about the photograph?”
Victor did not respond.
“Victor.”
“Where did you get it?”
“That is not the question.”
“It is now.”
She felt anger rise.
“You keep doing this.”
“Doing what?”
“Knowing things before you should.”
Victor sighed.
“I was hoping you wouldn’t find out this way.”
“That’s not an explanation.”
“No.”
His voice became quieter.
“It’s an admission.”
Mara gripped the phone.
“Of what?”
“That I haven’t told you everything.”
The words were almost insulting in their simplicity.
“You think?”
“I know how this looks.”
“It looks like you are manipulating me.”
“I understand why you think that.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
The answer was calm.
Too calm.
She hated that she could never tell if Victor was hiding something or simply refusing to panic.
“What are you hiding?”
“I was working with Evelyn.”
Mara froze.
The room seemed to lose sound.
“What?”
“Before all this happened.”
“You were working with her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because we were both investigating the settlement.”
She laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
“That’s convenient.”
“It is.”
She hated that he admitted it.
“What were you investigating?”
Victor was quiet.
Then he said, “A payment.”
“What payment?”
“Money moved before the settlement negotiations began.”
Mara felt a cold sensation move through her.
“From who?”
“We don’t know.”
“You and Evelyn were secretly investigating your own client?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you report it?”
“Because we didn’t have enough.”
“Then why involve me?”
Victor’s answer took longer.
“Because someone else decided you would be involved.”
She looked at the note on the table.
You were never the target.
“Who was the target?”
Victor did not answer.
Mara closed her eyes.
“Victor.”
“The person who found the missing clause.”
“That was me.”
“No.”
His voice was firm.
“That was never you.”
She opened her eyes.
“What does that mean?”
“It means the archive theft happened after the document was already missing.”
Her heart stopped for a moment.
“What?”
“The person who entered the archive was not taking the agreement.”
“Then what were they doing?”
Victor was silent.
When he spoke again, the certainty was gone.
“They were planting evidence that it had been taken.”
Mara looked at the folder.
The hidden clause.
The missing document.
The accusation.
Everything shifted.
Not enough to reveal the truth.
Enough to show she had been looking in the wrong direction.
“Who benefits from me being blamed?”
Victor did not answer.
That was when she heard something else.
A sound behind him.
A door closing.
“Where are you?”
May you like
Victor ignored the question.
“Mara, listen carefully.”
