Chapter 1 - What She Found in the Ledger
“Yes,” Claire said. “I read it.”
Roman’s expression closed.
Outside the lounge, voices rose as guests realized the evening had ended. Inside, the silence felt heavier than the chandeliers.
“How much?”
“Enough to know the rehabilitation center wasn’t receiving everything your company promised.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Then someone has been doing impossible things with your signature.”
She reached for the zipper behind her shoulder. Pain caught beneath her ribs, sharp enough to steal her next breath.
Roman moved closer.
“May I?”
The question surprised her.
She nodded.
He pulled the zipper up carefully, stopping whenever her breathing changed.
“I’m calling a doctor.”
“I already saw one.”
“Six days ago.”
“He said two cracked ribs.”
“Then we’re getting you examined again.”
Claire wanted to argue. She had spent nearly a week believing that if she could survive the gala, everything else might somehow become manageable.
But the room tilted.
Roman caught her elbow.
This time, she let him.
He called emergency services himself.
Then he called his security chief.
“Elias. Private lounge. Nobody comes inside without my permission.”
Claire gripped his sleeve.
“Not Nolan.”
Roman looked down.
“What?”
“Whatever happens next, don’t call Nolan.”
His phone remained against his ear.
Nolan Price had managed Mercer Shipping for twelve years. He had attended their wedding, delivered flowers when Claire’s mother died, and carried Roman’s trust like a key that opened every locked door.
“Why?”
Claire looked at the carpet.
“Because he was at Pier Nine.”
Roman lowered the phone.
For one terrible second, she thought he would demand details she couldn’t yet say aloud.
Instead, he told Elias, “Keep Nolan away.”
Then he knelt before her chair.
His tuxedo trousers touched the floor.
“Tell me what you can.”
Claire stared at the man whose name frightened half the coast.
“I thought the ledger showed money being stolen from you. From the foundation.”
“What did you do?”
“I called Nolan.”
Roman closed his eyes.
“He said the entries were preliminary. That there were supporting invoices at the harbor office. He offered to explain before the compliance people arrived.”
“You went alone?”
“He knew my name, Roman. He knew our house.”
Roman’s face changed.
Not anger at her.
Recognition of what his own trust had cost.
“He met me at the warehouse,” she continued. “There was another man. A driver, I think. They wanted the ledger.”
“Did you give it to them?”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“I’d left it somewhere else.”
Her fingers trembled against the silver silk.
“Nolan grabbed my bag. I tried to leave. The other man pushed me into a loading barrier.”
Roman went utterly still.
“I fell sideways. Something cracked. Nolan told him to stop.”
She swallowed.
“Then Nolan crouched beside me and said I’d misunderstood the situation.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“What did he threaten?”
Claire looked toward the locked door.
“Your brother.”
Roman’s younger brother, Adam, had spent eighteen months rebuilding his life after addiction treatment. He worked mornings at a marina and called Claire every Sunday.
“Nolan said there were shipments connected to Adam’s name. If I told you anything, he would make sure Adam went to prison.”
Roman stood.
His hand curled once.
Then opened.
Claire watched him fight the instinct everyone else expected him to obey.
“Don’t,” she whispered.
He turned.
“Don’t make him disappear. Don’t turn this into something worse.”
Footsteps sounded outside.
Paramedics.
Roman unlocked the door, then returned to her.
“I’m getting you help.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
He met her eyes.
“No,” he said quietly. “I won’t kill him.”
Only then did Claire let herself breathe.
As the paramedics entered, her phone vibrated inside her evening bag.
An unknown number.
May you like
One message.
You should have kept dancing.
