“The materials you promised to return yesterday have been located.”
Daniel’s face drained.
Carmen whispered, “What materials?”
James did not answer immediately.
Daniel did.
“This is insane.
We’re leaving.”
He grabbed Carmen’s wrist.
She pulled free.
“Don’t.”
Every conversation around us stopped.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Carmen, your sister shows up after barely speaking to you for two years, brings a billionaire to our dinner, and suddenly you believe them over me?”
His cruelty found its target perfectly.
Carmen looked at me.
For a moment, I saw all our old fights between us.
Then Sophia made a small sound against my shoulder.
I shifted her gently.
“Don’t believe me,” I said.
“Believe what you just heard him admit.”
Daniel laughed without humor.
“Rachel has always resented anyone who built a life she couldn’t.”
That one landed.
My face burned just like it had on the airplane when the passengers stared at me.
But I didn’t argue.
I didn’t cry.
I looked at Carmen.
“Ask him what happened to his job.
Ask him why he contacted Whitmore’s lawyers yesterday.
Ask him what he planned to return.
Then decide whether I’m jealous.”
Carmen turned to Daniel.
“Answer her.”
He looked around the room as if searching for an exit that didn’t look like one.
“Not here.”
Carmen gave a disbelieving laugh.
“That’s what people say when the truth won’t survive witnesses.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Then explain it.”
He couldn’t.
James’s phone rang.
He answered, listened, and said only, “Understood.”
Then he looked toward the ballroom doors.
Two people entered with the attorney I had met earlier.
They didn’t rush.
They didn’t create a scene.
But Daniel recognized them.
His chair scraped backward.
Carmen saw that too.
James spoke quietly.
“The company laptop Daniel reported lost has been recovered from a storage unit registered under one of the contractor entities our auditors flagged.”
Daniel’s mouth opened.
James continued.
“The device is being preserved for the appropriate investigation.”
“You can’t prove I put it there.”
