Chapter 2: The Man at My Door Still Smelled Like Her Champagne
The doorbell rang eleven times before I opened it.
Julian stood on the step, tie loosened, champagne still on his breath.
Behind him, a car idled at the curb.
Gwen's car.
"You need to calm down," he said.
"I'm perfectly calm."
"Nora, the accounts—"
"Are frozen.
Yes."
His voice dropped.
"You don't understand what you're doing.
There are contracts in motion.
Investors.
If you pull your shares right now, the whole restructuring collapses."
"I know."
He stared at me.
"You know?"
"Miriam explained it very clearly about forty minutes ago."
Something shifted in his face.
Not guilt.
Calculation.
"This isn't just about us," he said.
"Gwen has partners.
Serious people.
If you interfere with this deal—"
"Are you threatening me, Julian?"
He stopped.
I looked past him at the car.
The window was down.
Gwen was watching.
"She's been planning this for fourteen months," I said quietly.
"The restructuring.
The share dilution proposal.
The clause she tried to push through in October that Miriam flagged and you told me was nothing."
Julian's face went very still.
"You knew," I said.
"You helped her."
He didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
I started to close the door.
Then my phone buzzed on the hall table.
I glanced at the screen.
It was a message from a number I didn't recognize.
*There's something you need to see.
May you like
About your father's original agreement.
It wasn't an accident that Julian found you.*
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