Chapter 4
My boss, Denise Carter, answered on the second ring.
Not related to Daniel.
Just an unfortunate shared last name.
“Emily?”
My voice shook.
“I need to report something.”
She listened without interrupting.
The restaurant.
Daniel.
Mr. Lawson.
The forged email.
The attempted payoff.
The public accusation.
When I finished, she was quiet for three seconds.
Then she said, “Are you safe?”
I closed my eyes.
“Yes. Hotel security removed him.”
“Good. Do not go home tonight.”
That sentence made everything real.
Not go home.
My home was no longer a place I could enter casually.
Denise continued.
“I’m calling legal and IT security. Forward the documents from Mr. Lawson. Do not communicate with Daniel except through counsel.”
“Am I in trouble?”
“For being impersonated by your husband? No.”
I exhaled shakily.
“He used my company email.”
“Then he had access somehow. We will find out how.”
I already knew.
My laptop.
Our kitchen table.
The night I fell asleep after working on the proposal.
Daniel had brought me tea.
He had kissed my forehead.
He had said, “Let me plug this in for you.”
My stomach turned.
He had probably copied my password then.
Or watched me enter it.
Or guessed it, because once you love someone, you stop treating them like a possible thief.
Denise said, “Emily, listen to me. We want your partnership. We want your work. We do not want your husband’s sabotage to become your shame.”
I cried then.
Quietly.
May you like
Mr. Lawson looked away politely.
That small kindness meant more than he knew.
