Chapter 2: The Man by the Door
The room was still frozen when Vanessa's composure finally cracked.
"That footage proves nothing," she said, her voice sharp but her hands no longer steady.
"Anyone could have tampered with it."
Daniel didn't flinch.
"The system is sealed.
No one touches it but me."
Emily hadn't moved from the staircase.
Her cheek still burned.
But her eyes were fixed on something across the room — a man in a dark suit near the side door who had gone very still the moment the footage ended.
She recognized him.
Not from the gala.
From before.
From the night she had handed a USB drive to a federal contact and been told to disappear.
Vanessa followed Emily's gaze.
For one brief second, something passed across her face that wasn't anger.
It was fear.
"Get her out of here," Vanessa said quietly, turning to the man.
"Now."
But Daniel stepped forward again.
"Nobody is going anywhere." He looked at Emily directly for the first time.
"You worked at Vance Logistics before this.
Didn't you."
It wasn't a question.
Emily's throat tightened.
The man near the door reached slowly into his jacket.
And somewhere across the marble foyer, a phone began to ring.
---
What Emily revealed next put every person in that room in danger — including Daniel.
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