Chapter 3 - THE DEVICE UNDER MY DESK
Daniel recovered quickly.
Too quickly.
He came down the hallway holding two garment bags and a suitcase.
When he saw the black device in Adrian’s hand, his surprise lasted less than a second.
Then his expression became carefully blank.
“What is that?”
Adrian did not answer immediately.
He turned the device between his fingers.
“Commercial-grade audio transmitter.”
Vanessa stopped behind Daniel.
Her face paled.
I looked at my husband.
“You’ve seen it before.”
“No.”
“You didn’t even ask where he found it.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
Adrian answered for him.
“Under Mrs. Mercer’s desk.”
Daniel shrugged.
“Then perhaps Claire installed it.”
I almost laughed.
“Why would I secretly record myself?”
“You secretly recorded me this morning.”
“That was with my phone.”
Vanessa suddenly spoke.
“Daniel…”
He looked at her.
Something passed between them.
Fear.
Recognition.
My father noticed it too.
“Do you know something about this, Ms. Hale?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.”
But she touched the pocket of her coat.
Adrian noticed.
“Please remove your hand from your pocket.”
Her eyes widened.
“What?”
“Slowly.”
Daniel stepped between them.
“She isn’t being searched.”
Adrian’s expression did not change.
“I didn’t say she was.”
Vanessa slowly removed her hand.
Empty.
My father looked at Daniel.
“You should leave now.”
Daniel gave me a final stare.
“You’re going to regret turning this into a war.”
I held Lily tighter.
“You started the war when you threw your daughter’s crib into the snow.”
He walked past me without another word.
Vanessa followed him to the doorway.
Then I called her name.
She stopped.
“That necklace was not the only thing missing from my mother’s jewelry box.”
Vanessa turned slowly.
Daniel froze outside.
I continued.
“There was a sapphire bracelet. A diamond brooch. And a gold watch engraved with my parents’ anniversary date.”
Vanessa’s expression sharpened.
“I’ve never seen those.”
Daniel looked at her.
For the first time, genuine uncertainty crossed his face.
I realized something.
He might have given Vanessa the emerald necklace.
But perhaps he had not taken the other pieces.
My father must have reached the same conclusion.
“Adrian,” he said, “secure the house.”
Daniel laughed from the porch.
“Are you seriously treating this like a crime scene?”
My father looked at him.
“Should I?”
Daniel stopped laughing.
He and Vanessa walked toward Daniel’s Mercedes.
The vehicle accelerated down the driveway seconds later.
I watched until the gates closed.
Then my knees almost gave out.
My father caught my arm.
“Claire.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you aren’t.”
Those three words nearly broke me.
I had spent the entire morning refusing to cry.
I had refused when Daniel admitted the affair.
Refused when Vanessa stood in my hallway wearing my mother’s necklace.
Refused when my husband carried Lily’s crib downstairs piece by piece.
Refused when he told me to find a shelter.
But hearing my father tell me I was allowed not to be fine almost destroyed the wall I had built.
I pressed my face against Lily’s blanket.
My father wrapped one arm around both of us.
For several minutes, I let myself be his daughter again.
Not Daniel Mercer’s wife.
Not the future trustee of the Harlow estate.
Just Claire.
Eventually Lily needed feeding.
Life with a newborn did not pause for betrayal.
While Adrian’s security team inspected the house, I sat in Lily’s nursery feeding her from a bottle.
The empty space where the crib had stood made my chest ache.
My father sat in the rocking chair across from me.
Neither of us spoke for a while.
Then he asked the question I had been expecting.
“Why didn’t you tell me the marriage was this bad?”
“It wasn’t.”
“When did it change?”
I looked down.
“After Lily was born.”
My father frowned.
“Six weeks?”
“Maybe before that. I just didn’t recognize it.”
Daniel had always been ambitious.
That was one of the things I admired about him when we met.
He worked long hours.
He set difficult goals.
He hated losing.
At first, his ambition felt exciting.
Then somewhere along the way, the person he wanted to defeat became everyone around him.
Including me.
“He started criticizing everything,” I said. “The way I dressed. How much time I spent with Lily. Whether dinner was ready. Whether I was supportive enough.”
“Why did you tolerate it?”
I gave him a tired smile.
“Mom tolerated you working eighty-hour weeks when you started the company.”
Arthur winced.
“That isn’t the same.”
“I know.”
He looked toward the window.
“I wish she were here.”
“So do I.”
My mother, Eleanor, had died from pancreatic cancer four years earlier.
Daniel proposed seven months after her funeral.
At the time, I thought his presence had saved me from drowning in grief.
Now I wondered whether grief had simply made me easier to manipulate.
My father leaned forward.
“What did your mother tell you about Daniel?”
I hesitated.
“She said he watched people differently when he thought they could give him something.”
Arthur’s mouth tightened.
“She never told me that.”
“She made me promise not to tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew you already disliked him.”
“I didn’t dislike him.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“You ran a background check.”
“That was responsible parenting.”
“I was thirty.”
“You were still my daughter.”
Despite everything, I smiled.
Then my father’s expression turned serious.
“She was right.”
Before I could answer, Adrian appeared at the nursery door.
“We found two more.”
My stomach dropped.
“Listening devices?”
He nodded.
“One beneath the kitchen island. Another behind the television in the family room.”
My father stood.
“How long could they have been there?”
“We’ll need forensic analysis.”
“Can they transmit remotely?”
“Yes.”
“To where?”
“Potentially anywhere within range, depending on the model.”
I looked around my own home.
Suddenly every wall felt unfamiliar.
“Who was listening?”
Adrian hesitated.
“We found something else.”
He handed my father a photograph taken on his phone.
It showed a small metal case behind a cabinet in Daniel’s study.
Inside were several USB drives.
One was labeled:
CLAIRE — CALLS.
Another:
ARTHUR — PRIVATE.
My father went completely still.
I stood so quickly that Lily startled.
“What does that mean?”
Adrian looked at me.
“We don’t know yet.”
“Yes, you do.”
I could hear fear rising in my own voice.
“Tell me.”
“We believe someone may have been recording your private conversations.”
My mouth went dry.
I had spoken to my father from that house dozens of times.
About family matters.
Trust assets.
Corporate concerns.
Medical appointments.
Lily.
Everything.
My father’s voice became quiet.
“Secure every electronic device.”
Adrian nodded.
“We already are.”
“Bring in cyber forensics.”
“They’re on the way.”
I stared at the USB labels.
Then another thought struck me.
“Daniel knew about tomorrow’s merger before the public announcement.”
My father looked at me.
“Executives knew.”
“Not all the details.”
Arthur said nothing.
I continued.
“Three months ago, I mentioned to him that you seemed stressed about a manufacturing acquisition. I didn’t say the company name.”
My father’s expression changed.
“Claire…”
“A week later Daniel suddenly became involved in the Mercer Dynamics deal.”
Adrian looked sharply at Arthur.
My father stood very still.
That acquisition was worth billions.
Inside information could mean careers destroyed.
Criminal charges.
Prison.
And Daniel might have gotten the information from me.
Without my knowledge.
My stomach twisted.
“I gave him access.”
“No,” my father said immediately. “If he recorded you without permission, he stole it.”
“But I talked.”
“Because you trusted your husband.”
That word hurt.
Husband.
Adrian’s phone rang.
He answered.
After several seconds, his expression darkened.
“Where?”
He listened.
“How much?”
My father frowned.
Adrian ended the call.
“We have another problem.”
“What?”
“The preliminary review of Daniel’s expense accounts uncovered payments to a consulting company.”
“That’s already in the audit,” Arthur said.
Adrian shook his head.
“This company wasn’t on the original list.”
He turned his phone toward us.
The business was called Northstar Strategic Solutions.
I had never heard of it.
Then I saw the registered owner.
Vanessa Hale.
My father read the amount.
His voice became colder with each word.
“One point eight million dollars?”
Adrian nodded.
“Transferred from three Harlow subsidiaries over twenty-one months.”
My heart hammered.
Daniel’s affair was no longer the biggest problem.
Not even close.
“What were the payments for?”
“No services have been verified.”
My father looked toward the window.
“Find Daniel.”
Adrian began dialing.
But I shook my head.
“He won’t answer.”
My father turned.
“How do you know?”
I held up my phone.
A text had just arrived.
From Daniel.
One sentence.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT WHEN I GAVE YOU THE CHANCE.
Beneath it was a photograph.
My blood went cold.
It showed my mother’s grave.
May you like
Taken less than five minutes earlier.
And someone had placed the missing sapphire bracelet on her headstone.
