Chapter 4 - The Man Behind the Name
Ethan fired once toward the hallway.
A man cursed and ran.
Security flooded the apartment within seconds, but Claire barely heard them. Her eyes were fixed on Ethan’s gun.
“You keep that under the counter?”
“I keep one in several places.”
“That is not a normal sentence.”
“No.”
The attacker escaped down a service stairwell, leaving behind a shattered window and a brass token stamped with the letter V.
Claire folded her arms. “Start talking.”
Ethan sent everyone else from the kitchen.
“Vale Group owns logistics companies, hospitals, software firms, and a controlling interest in several medical research companies.”
Claire stared. “Vale Group as in the Vale Group?”
“Yes.”
“You said investments.”
“We invest.”
“You are Ethan Vale, CEO of a company worth—”
“Too much, according to several senators.”
Claire walked away, then turned back. “You let me marry you without telling me that?”
“The contract disclosed my assets in Schedule D.”
“Nobody reads Schedule D before a fake wedding.”
“I did.”
“That somehow makes it worse.”
He accepted the anger without defending himself.
“My uncle Malcolm wants temporary control. Marriage blocked him. Tonight was his response.”
“And now I’m a target.”
“Yes.”
The honesty frightened her more than a lie.
Claire packed before sunrise.
At the elevator, Ethan did not stop her.
“You can leave,” he said. “The agreement allows termination for material nondisclosure.”
She pressed the button.
“Will Northbridge still employ me?”
“Yes.”
“Will Ryan still try to destroy me?”
“Almost certainly.”
“Will your uncle still know my name?”
A pause. “Yes.”
The elevator doors opened.
Claire looked inside, then back at him.
Leaving would not restore the life she had lost. It would only make her alone again.
She stepped away from the elevator.
“I’m staying until I understand what I’ve walked into.”
Ethan nodded.
At Northbridge that morning, Claire was assigned to review a failed antiviral compound. Within two hours, she found numbers that did not make sense.
A trial site had reported twelve patients.
The raw database showed seventeen.
Five records had been deleted.
Claire opened the audit trail.
May you like
The deletion authorization belonged to Ryan Mercer.
Then someone locked the lab door behind her.
