Julian stepped fully into the room, leaning casually against the doorframe, effectively blocking the only exit.

“Put the drive back in the safe, Claire,” he said, taking a slow, deliberate sip of his drink. “You’re trespassing. I could call the police right now and have you arrested for burglary. Imagine the headlines. ‘Disgruntled Ex-Wife Caught Stealing.’”

I clutched my coat, my hand gripping the cold metal of the drive through the fabric. My mind raced, calculating the distance to the door, the weight of the bronze lamp on the desk.

“This drive proves everything, Julian,” I said, keeping my voice steady, refusing to show him the fear hammering in my chest. “It proves Victoria stole my father’s legacy. It proves the embezzlement. It proves you’re nothing but a puppet.”

Julian’s smile tightened into a sneer. “It proves absolutely nothing if it’s wiped clean before anyone sees it,” he countered, taking a slow step forward, setting his glass on a side table.

“Give it to me, Claire. Give it to me right now, and I’ll ask my mother to drop the defamation lawsuits against you. We can make this all go away. You can walk away with a nice, quiet, very generous settlement. You’ll never have to work a day in your life. We can just… erase all of this ugliness.”

“Like you erased my father?” I spat, the rage finally bubbling to the surface. “Like you erased my life for seven years?”

Julian’s face hardened. The charm vanished, replaced by the ugly, entitled rage of a man who had never been told ‘no’. “You ungrateful bitch,” he hissed.

He lunged for me.

I threw the bronze desk lamp at his chest. He batted it away with a grunt, but it slowed him down just enough. I bolted toward the door, but he grabbed the back of my coat, spinning me violently around and slamming me against the bookshelf.

“Give me the drive!” he yelled, his hand reaching for my pocket.

Before his fingers could find it, a sharp, frantic, terrified voice echoed from the hallway.

“Julian, don’t!”

We both froze and turned toward the door.

Vanessa stood there. She was a wreck. Her expensive makeup was smeared with tears, her hair was disheveled, and she was clutching a thick, crumpled file of papers to her chest. She looked absolutely terrified, shaking like a leaf in the wind.

“Vanessa? What the hell are you doing here?” Julian barked, loosening his grip on me slightly but not letting go. “You’re supposed to be managing the press embargo!”

Vanessa didn’t look at him. She looked at me, her eyes wide with desperation.

“Victoria is setting me up,” Vanessa choked out, a fresh wave of tears spilling over her eyelashes. She held up the crumpled papers. “I just intercepted an encrypted email from the legal department. Victoria isn’t going to blame the junior IT staff anymore. She realized Arthur is protecting them. She’s going to blame me.”

Julian scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous, Vanessa. My mother would never—”

“She’s framing me as the sole mastermind behind the entire embezzlement scheme to protect you, Julian!” Vanessa screamed, her voice breaking. “She already signed the draft affidavit for the police! She’s going to say I seduced you and manipulated the accounts!”

Vanessa threw the file onto the floor. She took a step toward me, completely ignoring Julian.

“Claire,” Vanessa pleaded, her voice dropping to a desperate whisper. “If you take them down… if you give that drive to the feds… do you promise to keep me out of jail? Do you promise to tell them I was just following orders?”

I looked at the woman who had slept in my bed, who had helped Julian gaslight me for a year.

“I don’t make deals with people who sleep with my husband,” I said coldly.

“I have the master encryption password for that drive!” Vanessa countered desperately, playing her only card. “Julian doesn’t even know it. Only Victoria and I do. Without that password, the drive will automatically, permanently wipe itself the second you try to plug it into a computer. I’ll give you the password right now. Just… just leave me out of the federal indictments.”

Julian roared in pure, unadulterated anger. “Vanessa, shut your mouth!”

He let go of my coat and lunged violently toward Vanessa.

In the chaos, I didn’t hesitate. I dodged around his massive oak desk, bolted through the doorway, and sprinted down the hallway toward the private elevator.

“Seven-four-nine-alpha!” Vanessa screamed at the top of her lungs as Julian grabbed her roughly by the arm. “The password is seven-four-nine-alpha, Claire!”

I slammed my hand against the elevator call button. The doors opened instantly. I dove inside, hammering the lobby button just as Julian rounded the corner.

His furious, red face disappeared behind the sliding metal doors.

I leaned against the mirrored wall of the elevator, gasping for air, clutching the silver drive to my chest. I had the ledger. I had the password.

Now, I just needed the audience.