Chapter 7
“What did you do?” he asked again.
I looked at my reflection in the dark window.
“I got divorced.”
“Don’t play games with me.”
“You told me to learn what life looks like without you.”
His breathing changed.
Behind him, I heard another voice.
Male.
Urgent.
Damian covered the phone.
The sound muffled for several seconds.
Then he came back.
“Who did you speak to?”
I said nothing.
“Clara.”
I had spent years responding instantly when he used that tone.
At dinner tables.
In the car.
In hotel rooms.
In the kitchen.
Clara, not now.
Clara, smile.
Clara, you are embarrassing me.
Clara, stop making everything emotional.
My body still remembered the command even though my mind no longer obeyed it.
“Who did you speak to?” he repeated.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Ridgeway Capital just delayed tomorrow’s release.”
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
The first crack becoming visible.
“They want clarification on the Harbor Crown ownership structure.”
His voice dropped.
“That is not public information.”
“I never said it was.”
Silence.
Mara lifted one finger, reminding me not to volunteer anything.
I did not need the reminder.
Damian had taught me the value of silence better than anyone.
He filled every quiet space because he believed quiet belonged to weaker people.
“They quoted language from an internal schedule,” he said.
“Then maybe you should answer them.”
“Where did you get it?”
I watched a cyclist pass through the rain outside.
“You should call your lawyers.”
“I am asking my wife.”
“Ex-wife.”
His breath stopped.
A strange calm moved through me.
It was not victory.
Victory would have felt warmer.
This felt like standing outside a burning house I had escaped while someone inside finally smelled smoke.
“Do you understand what you’ve done?” he asked.
“No.”
That answer was true.
I did not know what investors would find.
I only knew the documents contradicted one another.
Damian laughed once.
It was an ugly sound.
“You found two pieces of paper and decided you understood a billion-dollar capital structure?”
“I did not decide anything.”
“Then what did you send?”
I glanced at Mara.
She shook her head.
“You should call your lawyers,” I repeated.
“Do not move.”
The words were so automatic that for a second I nearly laughed.
“What?”
“Stay where you are.”
“Why?”
“I’m coming to get you.”
“No.”
He went silent.
I had said that word to him before.