CHAPTER 2 - THE FIRST DOOR CLOSED
CHAPTER 2 - THE FIRST DOOR CLOSED
Victor woke at six the next morning believing he had won.
He showered in the marble bathroom.
He put on the navy suit I had pressed for him two days earlier.
He walked into the kitchen and found Camille drinking coffee from my favorite cup.
“You should throw away her clothes,” Camille said.
Victor adjusted his cuff links.
“She’ll come back for them.”
“You’re still expecting her to come back?”
“She has nowhere else to go.”
Camille smiled into her coffee.
“That’s what makes this easy.”
Victor leaned down and kissed her.
Then his corporate phone stopped working.
He tapped the screen twice.
The Meridian logo appeared, followed by a message he had never seen before.
ACCESS REVOKED.
He tried his email.
Locked.
He tried the internal contract portal.
Locked.
He called his assistant from his personal phone.
She answered on the fourth ring.
“Mr. Hayes?”
“Why is my access down?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“Security came to your office at five thirty.”
Victor froze.
“What security?”
“Hartwell corporate security.”
Camille slowly lowered her cup.
Victor walked toward the windows.
“What did they take?”
“Your computer, your files, and the contents of your safe.”
“Who authorized that?”
“I wasn’t told.”
“Put Marcus on the phone.”
“Mr. Hayes, Marcus was escorted out too.”
The line went silent.
Victor called Daniel Cross.
No answer.
He called again.
The call went directly to voicemail.
His confidence cracked for the first time.
Camille crossed the room.
“Maybe it’s a routine audit.”
“At six in the morning?”
“You said Hartwell companies audit executives all the time.”
“They do not remove computers during routine audits.”
Victor opened the banking application on his phone.
His corporate card showed suspended.
His executive expense account showed restricted.
He checked the payment scheduled for his new sports car.
The transfer had failed.
He opened the building application to summon the elevator.
His resident access had been disabled.
“Victor,” Camille said carefully.
“What?”
“Did Olivia have access to your work files?”
He turned.
“Why would you ask that?”
“Because she was here.”
“She was my wife.”
“She could have copied something.”
Victor laughed, but there was no humor in it.
“Olivia barely understands what I do.”
Camille stared at him.
“Are you certain?”
Before he could answer, the penthouse telephone rang.
Victor picked it up.
The building manager spoke with formal politeness.
“Mr. Hayes, a legal representative will arrive at nine o’clock to conduct a property review.”
“What property review?”
“The residence is being reclaimed by Hartwell Residential Holdings.”
Victor gripped the phone.
“My lease runs for another fourteen months.”
“There is no lease in your name.”
“That’s impossible.”
“The apartment was assigned through a corporate accommodation agreement.”
“Through Meridian.”
“Through the office of Arthur Hartwell.”
The name landed differently this time.
Victor looked at Camille.
She was no longer smiling.
The manager continued.
“You will be permitted to remove personal belongings under supervision.”
Victor slammed down the phone.
Camille stepped toward him.
“Why would Arthur Hartwell care about your apartment?”
“He doesn’t.”
“Then why is his office involved?”
“I don’t know.”
The private elevator chimed.
Victor moved toward it, but the doors did not open.
A red light appeared above the panel.
He had become a guest inside the home he believed he controlled.
Across the city, I sat in my father’s private conference room wearing one of my mother’s old sweaters.
A cup of tea cooled between my hands.
My father stood at the window while Russell placed photographs across the table.
The images showed Victor meeting with Daniel Cross in restaurants, parking garages, and a private club near the river.
Other photographs showed Camille Rowan entering the same locations through separate doors.
Russell placed the final photograph in front of me.
It had been taken three months earlier.
Victor and Camille stood beside Daniel Cross.
On the table between them was the confidential redevelopment folder.
“How long have you known?” I asked.
“About the meetings?” Russell replied.
“Six weeks.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“Your father ordered surveillance after irregularities appeared in Meridian’s bids.”
I looked at Arthur.
“You were investigating Victor.”
“I was investigating everyone.”
“Did you suspect my husband?”
“I hoped I was wrong.”
The pain in his voice was almost invisible.
Almost.
I looked back at the photographs.
“What was Daniel giving them?”
“Internal pricing, land acquisition schedules, and subcontractor bids,” Russell said.
“To whom?”
“We believe Camille was passing the information to Calder Development.”
Calder was our largest regional competitor.
A company that had spent years trying to break Hartwell Group’s control of Chicago commercial construction.
“Victor knew?”
Russell did not soften the answer.
“We don’t know yet.”
My father turned from the window.
“At nine o’clock, Meridian’s board will be informed that an internal investigation has begun.”
“At nine?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“What will Victor be told?”
May you like
Arthur’s face became unreadable.
“That depends on whether he recognizes you when you walk into the room.”
