Chapter 8 - The Enemy Beside Him
Vanessa moved into Daniel’s corner office.
She changed nothing.
That was more insulting than redecorating.
Daniel’s family photographs remained on the shelves.
Claire holding newborn Noah.
Daniel and Claire at Lake Como.
Noah sleeping against Daniel’s chest.
Vanessa sat beneath them and conducted business.
Grant entered without knocking.
“You should remove Claire’s picture.”
Vanessa looked at it.
“No.”
“Why keep torturing yourself?”
“Because people trust women who tolerate ghosts.”
Grant smiled.
“You always were smarter than Daniel.”
Vanessa looked at him.
“Daniel isn’t stupid.”
“He signed everything.”
“He signed what he believed his officers had vetted.”
“Same difference.”
“No. It means if he stops feeling guilty long enough to think clearly, he becomes dangerous.”
Grant poured himself water.
“So eliminate the problem.”
Vanessa’s eyes cooled.
“I tried eliminating one problem.”
Grant stared at her.
“You said the yacht was an accident.”
Vanessa’s silence answered.
Grant slowly lowered the glass.
“You actually pushed the kid?”
“Lower your voice.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“It was supposed to look like a brake failure.”
“And instead Elena jumped in.”
Vanessa’s jaw tightened.
“That woman has been ruining everything since Claire was alive.”
Grant moved closer.
“If Daniel finds out—”
“He won’t.”
“You’d better be right.”
Across town, Daniel sat at Rebecca’s conference table opposite Elena.
Neither had spoken for several minutes.
Finally Daniel pushed a coffee toward her.
“I didn’t poison it.”
Elena almost smiled.
Almost.
“I’m sorry about Owen.”
“So am I.”
“I should’ve listened.”
“Yes.”
Daniel sighed.
“You enjoy that word.”
“Recently.”
Rebecca entered with a cybersecurity consultant named Priya Shah.
Priya placed a laptop on the table.
“I reviewed the documents from Claire’s drive.”
Daniel straightened.
“And?”
“The satellite archive does exist.”
Elena leaned forward.
“Can we get it?”
“Not directly. But Claire configured something unusual.”
Priya displayed a network map.
“The yacht’s rear camera sends local video to the onboard server. If someone manually deletes footage while the satellite link is active, the system pushes an integrity packet to an external cache.”
“What’s an integrity packet?” Elena asked.
“A compressed snapshot around the deletion event.”
Daniel stared.
“How much video?”
“Anywhere from thirty seconds to three minutes.”
Elena’s pulse jumped.
“The push.”
“Possibly.”
“Where is it?”
Priya pointed.
“Marisat Communications.”
Daniel swore softly.
“They won’t release it.”
“Not without legal process.”
Rebecca nodded.
“I filed for expedited preservation this morning.”
“Preservation isn’t production.”
“No. But they cannot destroy it.”
Daniel looked relieved for the first time in days.
Priya continued.
“There’s something else.”
She opened the access records.
“The remote deletion command came from Vanessa’s administrator account.”
“We knew that.”
“But the device fingerprint didn’t match Vanessa’s phone.”
Daniel frowned.
“Whose?”
“Marcus Bell’s laptop.”
Silence.
Elena whispered, “Marcus deleted the footage.”
“Using Vanessa’s credentials,” Priya said.
Daniel stood.
“So Marcus is working with her.”
“Likely.”
Rebecca warned, “Likely is not proven.”
Daniel looked toward Elena.
“We need Marcus.”
“No,” Elena said immediately.
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“We need him scared enough to choose himself over Vanessa.”
Daniel studied her.
That evening he requested a private meeting with Marcus at a downtown restaurant.
Marcus arrived twelve minutes late.
“You’re not supposed to be giving me instructions anymore.”
Daniel smiled.
“I’m not.”
He slid a folder across the table.
Inside were printouts of the deletion log.
Marcus’s face changed.
Daniel said quietly, “Vanessa is going to blame you.”
Marcus said nothing.
“She’ll say you stole her credentials.”
“You don’t know that.”
“She already told police her old account was compromised.”
Marcus stared at him.
Daniel leaned forward.
“She’s building the story.”
Marcus looked toward the restaurant entrance.
“Why tell me?”
“Because I want the truth.”
Marcus laughed nervously.
“You want revenge.”
“That too.”
Marcus stood.
“I can’t help you.”
Daniel did not stop him.
At the door, Marcus paused.
Without turning, he said, “Claire knew about the blinking red light.”
Daniel’s blood went cold.
“What?”
Marcus looked back.
“She built it that way.”
“Why?”
Marcus swallowed.
“Because she didn’t trust someone on the yacht.”
“Who?”
Marcus hesitated.
Then he walked out.
Daniel followed him into the street.
Marcus was already entering a taxi.
Daniel’s phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
It contained a video.
Security footage from a hotel lobby.
Daniel and Elena entered an elevator together after meeting Rebecca two nights earlier.
May you like
Vanessa’s text appeared beneath it.
How long do you think the world will believe you’re protecting Noah before they decide you’re sleeping with the nanny?
