Chapter 2
For a few seconds, I couldn't hear anything except the blood pounding in my ears.
The ballroom was still full of people.
But it felt empty.
There was only David's phone.
That photograph.
And Emily.
My little sister.
Alive.
Standing between my husband and his secretary only hours before she died.
I grabbed the phone.
“When was this taken?”
David swallowed.
“November seventeenth. Around nine-thirty at night.”
My knees nearly gave out.
Emily died sometime after midnight.
Three hours later.
I looked at Michael.
“You told me you were in Chicago that week.”
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Lauren stepped closer.
“Sarah, there are things you don't understand.”
I turned on her.
“Then help me understand.”
“Not here.”
“Why? Because there are witnesses?”
Michael grabbed my elbow again.
I ripped free.
“Don't touch me.”
“Sarah.”
“No.”
My voice cracked through the ballroom.
“You hit me in front of everyone because I slapped the woman who was apparently with my dead sister the night she died.”
People were staring openly now.
A few employees had phones in their hands.
Michael noticed.
His face hardened.
He turned toward the crowd.
“Everyone, please. This is a private family matter.”
David laughed bitterly.
“No, Michael. It stopped being private when legal started destroying travel records.”
Michael's face drained.
Lauren whispered, “David, shut up.”
I looked at him.
“Destroying what?”
David stared at Michael for a long second.
Then he said, “Your husband's company had a leadership conference in Denver that weekend. Michael was there. Lauren was there. I was there.”
My breath caught.
“What was Emily doing there?”
Nobody answered.
I stepped closer to David.
“What was my sister doing there?”
“She contacted me.”
Michael lunged forward.
“That's enough.”
David raised his voice.
“She contacted several of us.”
The room erupted in whispers.
Michael looked ready to kill him.
I didn't care.
“Why?”
David's eyes settled on mine.
“Because she discovered something.”
“What?”
“I don't have everything.”
“Stop protecting him.”
“I'm not.”
David reached into his jacket.
He pulled out a small envelope.
“I've been carrying this for three months because I didn't know whether giving it to you would protect you or put you in danger.”
Michael's face changed.
Real fear.
“David.”
That was all he said.
But I heard the warning.
David handed me the envelope.
Michael tried to snatch it.
I stepped backward.
Two men from accounting moved between us without saying anything.
Michael stared at them in disbelief.
For the first time that night, he looked powerless.
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a hotel key card.
A tiny flash drive.
And a folded note.
The handwriting stopped my heart.
Emily's handwriting.
I knew every curve.
Every messy capital letter.
Every rushed line.
I unfolded it.
Sarah,
If anything happens to me, don't believe the first story they tell you.
I had to stop reading.
My eyes blurred.
Eleven months of grief crashed over me all at once.
I remembered identifying her body.
I remembered our mother's scream at the funeral home.
I remembered Michael holding me beside the grave.
Telling me I would survive.
Telling me Emily's death was a terrible accident.
He had rubbed my back while I cried.
He had slept beside me when nightmares woke me.
And all that time, he knew.
I forced myself to continue.
Michael knows more than he will admit.
Lauren knows everything.
Do not confront them alone.
Room 814.
Ask for the blue file.
Trust no one from the company unless David gives you this himself.
I love you.
I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner.
Emily.
My hands shook so badly the paper rattled.
I looked at David.
“What blue file?”
“I don't know.”
Michael finally pushed around the men blocking him.
“Give me that.”
I backed away.
“Were you there when she died?”
“No.”
“Were you in Denver?”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
The answer hit harder than the slap.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“Were you at her hotel?”
“Yes.”
Lauren spoke quickly.
“But he didn't kill her.”
I turned toward her.
Nobody had said kill.
The entire room became silent again.
Lauren realized it too late.
Michael stared at her with pure fury.
My voice came out barely above a whisper.
“I said she died.”
Lauren's lips parted.
“You said he didn't kill her.”
“Sarah—”
“Why would you say that?”
She stepped back.
I moved toward her.
“What happened on that balcony?”
“I wasn't on the balcony.”
“Then who was?”
Lauren looked at Michael.
He said, “Don't answer.”
I laughed.
It sounded broken.
“You're giving her orders?”
“She needs a lawyer.”
“So do you.”
Michael's expression shifted.
The controlling husband disappeared.
The charming executive disappeared.
What remained was someone I suddenly didn't recognize.
“You need to come home with me,” he said.
“No.”
“Sarah, listen carefully. You are emotional. You've been grieving for almost a year. David is manipulating you because he's being pushed out of the company.”
David shook his head.
“Tell her about the settlement.”
Michael ignored him.
“What settlement?” I asked.
David answered.
“Emily demanded two million dollars.”
I stared at him.
“For what?”
“She had evidence that company executives were moving money through shell vendors.”
Michael's eyes flashed.
“Allegations. Nothing more.”
David continued.
“She believed some of those accounts were being used to hide personal payments too.”
“What kind of personal payments?”
David hesitated.
Lauren said quietly, “Don't.”
That told me enough.
I looked at Michael.
“Was Emily blackmailing you?”
“No.”
“Then why did she ask for two million dollars?”
“She didn't ask me.”
“But she met you.”
Michael rubbed his jaw.
“She came to Denver because she thought I could help.”
“You hated Emily.”
His eyes met mine.
“I didn't hate her.”
“You called her reckless.”
“She was.”
“You told me she caused problems everywhere she went.”
“She did.”
“You told me not to lend her money anymore.”
“Because she was taking advantage of you.”
I stepped closer.
“Was that what you told yourself when you lied to me about seeing her?”
Michael said nothing.
The doors at the far end of the ballroom opened.
Two hotel security officers entered.
Behind them were two police officers.
For one wild second, I thought someone had called them because Michael slapped me.
Then one officer walked directly toward David.
“David Reynolds?”
David stiffened.
“Yes?”
“We need to speak with you concerning unauthorized possession of confidential company property.”
Michael didn't look surprised.
David did.
Lauren looked relieved.
I understood instantly.
“This is because of the flash drive, isn't it?”
The officer looked at me.
“Ma'am?”
Michael stepped forward.
“My wife has company property that Mr. Reynolds stole.”
I stared at him.
“You called the police?”
“I called corporate security before you arrived tonight.”
David whispered a curse.
Michael held out his hand.
“Sarah. Give me the drive.”
I closed my fingers around it.
“No.”
The officer approached me carefully.
“Ma'am, if the item contains stolen corporate information, we may need to secure it.”
“Do you have a warrant?”
The officer paused.
“No.”
“Then you're not taking it.”
Michael's eyes narrowed.
“You don't know what you're doing.”
“Maybe not.”
I put the flash drive into my bra.
“But I'm finally learning what you've been doing.”
A few people gasped.
David almost smiled.
The officer sighed.
“Ma'am, nobody is going to search you without legal authority.”
“Good.”
I folded Emily's letter and put it beside the drive.
Michael leaned close enough that only I could hear him.
“Going home alone tonight would be a mistake.”
I stared at him.
“Was that a threat?”
His expression didn't change.
“It was concern.”
I finally understood why Emily's note said not to confront them alone.
I turned toward the crowd.
“My husband just told me going home alone would be a mistake.”
Several phones lifted higher.
Michael's face tightened.
“Stop performing.”
“No.”
I looked at one of his employees.
A young woman I recognized from holiday parties.
“Are you recording?”
Her face turned pale.
Then she nodded.
“Keep recording.”
Michael said, “Sarah.”
I backed toward David.
“Where is Room 814?”
David shook his head.
“I don't know. Emily never explained it.”
“Which hotel did she die at?”
“The Carlton Denver.”
I already knew that.
The police report had been burned into my memory.
But Emily had stayed in Room 1206.
Room 814 wasn't hers.
“Who stayed in 814?”
David looked toward Michael.
Michael's silence answered for him.
I whispered, “You?”
Lauren suddenly moved.
She reached for my purse.
I jerked it away.
“What are you doing?”
“You shouldn't drive like this.”
Then something fell from her hand.
A small black object landed on the carpet.
David bent down before she could grab it.
His face changed.
“What the hell?”
He held it up.
It was no bigger than a coin.
“What is that?” I asked.
David looked at Lauren.
“A tracker.”
My stomach dropped.
Lauren turned white.
Michael swore under his breath.
David examined it.
“She was putting it in your purse.”
I stared at Lauren.
“You were going to track me?”
“No.”
Everyone had seen it.
She knew lying was useless.
Michael immediately said, “I had nothing to do with that.”
Lauren looked at him.
Her eyes widened.
Something passed between them.
Betrayal.
Then she laughed once.
Cold.
Almost disbelieving.
“You're doing this now?”
Michael's jaw clenched.
“Lauren.”
“You're putting everything on me?”
He stepped toward her.
“Don't.”
She looked at me.
For the first time, her confidence was gone.
“You want to know what happened in Denver?”
My heart stopped.
Michael shouted, “Lauren, shut your mouth.”
She ignored him.
“Your sister wasn't threatening Michael because of stolen company money.”
I couldn't breathe.
“She was threatening him because she found out who he really was.”
“What does that mean?”
Lauren looked around the ballroom.
May you like
Then back at me.
“Emily discovered Michael had another family.”
