Chapter 5 - The Price Of Ambition
Daniel left his mother’s estate feeling as though the sky had collapsed onto his shoulders.
The rain had turned into a steady, freezing sleet that coated his windshield in gray slush.
His phone buzzed relentlessly against the leather passenger seat.
He picked it up, expecting Julian or his attorney.
It was Sabrina.
He answered the call with an irritated snarl.
“What is it, Sabrina?”
“Where are you?” Sabrina’s voice was frantic, stripped of the playful allure she usually wore like perfume.
“I am dealing with the disaster you created,” Daniel said, steering onto the expressway.
“What I created?” Sabrina shrieked through the speaker.
“Julian just stormed into my office at the Vance Group!”
“He removed me from the Mercer account and told my father that I breached corporate ethics!”
Daniel gripped the steering wheel until his fingers hurt.
“Julian knows about the billings,” Daniel said bitterly.
“He brought Evelyn Cross into the firm.”
There was a long silence on the other end of the line.
When Sabrina spoke again, her voice had lost every trace of affection.
“Are you telling me your wife uncovered the invoices?”
“She uncovered everything,” Daniel admitted.
“The Chestnut Street lease, the weekend in Door County, the escrow transfers.”
“Then fix it, Daniel!” Sabrina demanded, her tone harsh and commanding.
“My father will cut me out of the family trust if this turns into a public fraud inquiry!”
“You told me Claire was just a suburban housewife who never looked at the statements!”
Daniel felt an ugly, bitter laugh escape his chest.
“She wasn’t just a housewife, Sabrina.”
“She is a certified public accountant with a master’s from Northwestern.”
“She wrote the algorithms we use to structure client portfolios.”
“I don’t care about her resume!” Sabrina snapped.
“Do you have the capital to buy Julian out and settle the Vance Group invoices privately?”
Daniel looked at the dashboard, remembering the frozen accounts.
“My personal accounts are under temporary audit review,” he said quietly.
“What does that mean?” Sabrina asked, her voice dropping into a chilling calm.
“It means the bank has frozen my liquid credit until Friday.”
Sabrina did not gasp; she did not offer sympathy.
“Then don’t call this number again until your lawyers have cleared my name with my father,” she said flatly.
“Sabrina, wait—after everything we talked about?”
“What we talked about was predicated on you being the managing partner of Mercer & Associates, Daniel.”
“A disgraced consultant facing an ethical tribunal is not what I signed up for.”
The call clicked off.
Daniel stared at the phone screen as it returned to the home wallpaper—a photo of Claire standing on a cliff in Maine four summers ago.
He threw the phone against the passenger dashboard.
The realization struck him like a physical blow to the stomach.
Sabrina had never loved him; she had loved the prestige, the expense accounts, and the corporate power he projected.
And the woman who had genuinely loved him when he was working out of a rented basement above a laundromat was currently methodically dismantling his life.
He turned the car around and raced back toward Evanston.
He had to stop her.
He had to find the documents, the hard drives, and whatever evidence she was holding before she handed it to the courts.
He had to make her look at him and remember nine years of marriage.
He drove through three red lights, his tires skidding on the slush.
When he arrived at the house in Evanston, an unmarked white cargo van was parked near the garage doors.
May you like
Two men in gray uniforms were carrying large cardboard storage boxes down the front steps.
Daniel leaped out of his car before the engine had even stopped idling.
