Chapter 4
I called my mother immediately.
She didn’t answer.
I called again.
Voicemail.
The third time, Megan took the phone from me.
“She’s probably scared and confused.”
“She thinks I’m crazy.”
“She thinks whatever Daniel told her.”
“That’s worse.”
Megan sat across from me.
“Then prove him wrong.”
I looked at the clock.
It was almost four in the morning.
Daniel’s staff meeting was in four hours.
“I’m going to the office.”
Megan shook her head.
“You haven’t slept.”
“I’m not letting him walk into my company and tell my employees I’m unstable.”
“I’m coming with you.”
At seven fifteen, I stood outside Hartwell Interiors wearing Megan’s jeans, her blouse, and a borrowed pair of flats.
My office occupied the second floor of a renovated brick warehouse near Midtown.
I had signed the lease when I had five employees.
Now the company filled the entire building.
Seeing my name above the entrance nearly made me cry again.
Hartwell Interiors.
I had built every part of it.
Daniel had never stayed up until three in the morning fixing a proposal.
He had never borrowed money against his car to make payroll.
He had never spent weekends painting our first office because I couldn’t afford contractors.
Yet somewhere inside that building, he was preparing to tell everyone it belonged to him.
Marcus met us in the parking lot.
He looked exhausted.
“I pulled access logs before they locked me out.”
He handed me a flash drive.
“What’s on it?”
“Everything I could get. User changes. Account permissions. Downloads.”
“Downloads?”
His expression darkened.
“Someone copied almost the entire financial archive three weeks ago.”
“Who?”
“Diane’s old credentials.”
I stopped walking.
“Those credentials were disabled years ago.”
“They were reactivated six months ago.”
“By whom?”
Marcus looked toward the building.
“Daniel.”
My chest tightened.
Six months.
This had not started with Lauren three months ago.
Daniel had been preparing for half a year.
We entered through the front doors.
My receptionist, Tasha, stood so fast her chair rolled backward.
“Sarah?”
Three employees turned.
Then five.
Whispers spread.
I saw confusion.
Relief.
Fear.
“Good morning,” I said.
Tasha rushed toward me.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
She lowered her voice.
“Daniel said you were hospitalized.”
My stomach turned.
“He said what?”
“He told us not to call because your doctor wanted no stress.”
Megan swore under her breath.
I forced myself to stay calm.
“Has anyone actually spoken to a doctor?”
Tasha shook her head.
“Of course not.”
“Then please understand this clearly. I am not hospitalized. I am not on medical leave. And I have never appointed Daniel to run this company.”
People started gathering.
Marcus closed the front doors.
At seven fifty, Daniel walked in.
Lauren was beside him.
So was Diane.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Daniel looked at me.
Then Megan.
Then Marcus.
His expression became controlled.
“Sarah, you shouldn’t be here.”
I folded my arms.
“That’s an interesting thing to say inside my company.”
Lauren carried a leather briefcase.
She looked completely different from the woman in my robe hours earlier.
Professional suit.
Hair pinned back.
Calm expression.
She could have been entering court.
“Sarah,” she said, “I strongly recommend that you leave until your legal status is clarified.”
“My legal status?”
“As outlined in the documents you executed.”
“I didn’t execute anything.”
Lauren sighed.
“You may not remember.”
The room went completely silent.
I stared at her.
“Say that again.”
She looked almost sympathetic.
“It’s possible your current condition is affecting your recollection.”
I heard Megan inhale sharply.
Daniel stepped between us.
“This is exactly why we didn’t want a scene.”
I pulled out my phone.
“You told my employees I was hospitalized.”
“I said you needed time away.”
“Tasha?”
My receptionist answered instantly.
“He said hospitalized.”
Daniel glared at her.
She shrank back.
I stepped closer to him.
“Don’t look at her. Look at me.”
“Sarah, stop.”
“No. You spent six months preparing to call me unstable. Now say it to my face.”
Diane spoke.
“You’re proving our point.”
I turned toward her.
“You reactivated old accounting credentials and downloaded my company files.”
Her eyes flicked toward Marcus.
That tiny movement told me Marcus was right.
I continued.
“You helped forge corporate records.”
“You have no proof.”
“I have logs.”
Diane’s jaw tightened.
Lauren opened her briefcase.
“We have notarized documents.”
“Great.”
I held out my hand.
“Show me the originals.”
For the first time, Lauren hesitated.
Just half a second.
But I saw it.
So did Marcus.
I smiled without feeling anything.
“You don’t have them, do you?”
“They’re secured.”
“Where?”
“That isn’t information you’re entitled to demand.”
“It has my signature.”
“You can obtain copies through counsel.”
I stepped closer.
“Who notarized it?”
Lauren closed the briefcase.
“Again, through counsel.”
Megan whispered, “She’s scared.”
Daniel heard her.
“You need to leave, Megan.”
She laughed.
“You cheated on my sister, forged her name, and stole from her company. You don’t get to tell me where to stand.”
Employees were openly listening now.
Daniel realized he was losing control.
He raised his voice.
“Everyone to the conference room.”
Nobody moved.
“I said now.”
Marcus stepped beside me.
“You’re not their boss.”
Daniel pulled a document from his jacket.
“Actually, I am.”
Marcus didn’t even look at it.
“You can wave paper around all morning. Sarah hired me eight years ago. Until a court tells me otherwise, I answer to her.”
One by one, people moved closer to me.
Tasha first.
Then two designers.
Then our project manager.
Daniel watched his coup collapse in real time.
His face hardened.
“You’re all making a mistake.”
I looked at my employees.
“No one has to choose sides. Go home if you’re uncomfortable. You’ll be paid.”
Then I looked back at Daniel.
“But there will be no leadership transition today.”
Lauren whispered something to him.
He nodded.
Then smiled.
It was the first time he looked calm.
“You’re right.”
I didn’t trust it.
He walked toward the door.
Diane followed.
Lauren paused.
“Check your largest client.”
My stomach dropped.
She smiled.
Then left.
Marcus was already opening his laptop.
“What did she mean?”
I knew before he answered.
Hartwell Interiors’ biggest contract was a twelve-million-dollar hotel renovation with Beaumont Hospitality.
It represented nearly forty percent of our revenue for the year.
Marcus opened the client portal.
His face drained.
“They terminated us.”
“What?”
He turned the screen.
Termination for breach of confidentiality.
I stared at the message.
Attached was an email supposedly sent from my account.
It contained Beaumont’s confidential design budgets and bid information.
Sent to one of their competitors.
Megan whispered, “You didn’t send that.”
“No.”
Marcus looked at the timestamp.
Three weeks ago.
The same night Diane’s old credentials had downloaded our files.
I understood Daniel’s smile.
May you like
Stealing my company was only part of the plan.
If he couldn’t take it from me, he intended to destroy it before I could keep it.
