Chapter 2 – The Woman He Never Truly Knew
Chapter 2 – The Woman He Never Truly Knew
Matthew spent the entire morning trying to stop the bleeding.
Every call ended the same way.
"We're sorry."
"The board has concerns."
"The funding is suspended."
"Our legal department advised us not to comment."
Nothing made sense.
Until Lauren stormed into his office.
"What did you do?"
He frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
"My accounts are frozen!"
She threw a folder across his desk.
The Hamptons house.
Her luxury apartment.
The sports car.
Even the boutique she had opened six months earlier.
Everything had been financed through shell companies connected to NexusCore.
Now every transaction was under investigation.
"You promised I'd never lose anything!"
Matthew slammed his fist onto the desk.
"I'll fix it!"
Lauren stared at him.
For the first time...
She realized he had no idea how.
Meanwhile...
Clare opened her eyes inside a private hospital suite.
Every movement hurt.
But someone was holding her hand.
Her father.
Richard looked older than she remembered.
Not weaker.
Just tired.
He smiled gently.
"You frightened me."
Fresh tears slid down Clare's face.
"I thought... you'd never forgive me."
Richard squeezed her hand.
"I lost my daughter once."
"I'm not making that mistake twice."
Father and daughter cried together.
Neither mentioned the seven missing years.
Not yet.
Later that afternoon, Henderson entered carrying another folder.
"We recovered security footage from the penthouse."
He placed photographs beside the bed.
Twenty strikes.
Every second clearly recorded.
The room became silent.
Richard closed the folder.
"Matthew Hayes believes this is a divorce."
He slowly stood.
"It isn't."
"It's a criminal case."
"And after that..."
May you like
He looked out the window toward Manhattan.
"...it becomes a business lesson."
