Chapter 18
The gala continued around them, a blur of music and laughter, while Vincent and Claire stood in the eye of a silent hurricane.
"He wants to destroy me," Vincent whispered, the betrayal carving hollows into his face. "If those expense reports leak, I don't just lose the CEO title. I go to prison for fraud. And he steps back in as the savior of the company."
"He underestimated us," Claire said, her voice dropping to a fierce, dangerous whisper. "He thinks because we're broken, we can't fight back."
"Can we?" Vincent looked at her, his eyes desperate. "Claire, why are you helping me? I betrayed you."
"Because nobody uses me as collateral," Claire stated, her eyes flashing with a cold fire. "Julian used my pain to stage a coup. He faked your voice to break my heart, and he used company money to buy your mistress a hotel room. I am going to tear him apart."
"How?"
"I need access to his private servers at the estate," Claire said. "The Cayman files I have are just the tip. If he's framing you, the original transfer orders are on his personal hard drive."
"His estate is a fortress," Vincent said. "He has security everywhere."
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"Not for his son," Claire looked up at him. "You still have his biometric access. You need to get in there tonight, while he's here at the gala."
Vincent nodded slowly, his jaw setting. "I'll do it."
