Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 21 - Chapitre 25

“Someone close to Ashford has been talking.”Xavier’s text still glowed on my screen when he pulled up outside the penthouse ten minutes later, headlights cutting through the dark like a lifeline. I was already outside waiting, my arms wrapped around myself against the cold, unable to stand being inside those walls another second.“Get in.” He leaned across to push the passenger door open before I’d even reached the car.I dropped into the seat, and he pulled away from the curb before I’d finished closing the door, his knuckles white against the wheel.“Tell me everything,” he said. “From the beginning. Don’t skip anything, even if it seems small.”I told him. Mrs. Devonte’s cold recitation of everything she’d done and felt nothing about. Her demand that Ashford bury the Meridian case. Her threat against Sofia, delivered with the same flat calm she’d use to discuss the weather.Xavier’s jaw tightened with every sentence, the muscle jumping the way Jeremy’s used to, except on Xavier it

“I found her.”Ashford’s voice came through clearer this time, steadier, like a man who’d finally slept a few hours somewhere safe. Xavier and I sat across from each other at the small kitchen table in my apartment, the phone on speaker between us.“Found who?” I asked.“My paralegal. Denise. She’s worked for me for six years.” A pause, weighted with something that sounded like genuine disappointment. “I checked the security logs before I moved everything. Someone accessed the Meridian files remotely three separate times over the past month, always late at night, always from an IP address tied to her home internet.”My stomach twisted. “Are you sure it’s her, and not someone using her credentials?”“I called her an hour ago. Told her I suspected a breach, watched how she reacted.” Ashford’s voice hardened. “She didn’t ask a single question about what kind of breach, or when, or how I’d found out. A woman with nothing to hide asks questions, Miss Jones. She just started apologizing.”X

“Thank you for coming.”Sofia looked younger in person than the nineteen years Marcus had mentioned, her hands wrapped tight around a paper coffee cup at the small diner booth, her eyes darting toward the door every few seconds like she expected someone to burst through it.“Thank you for reaching out.” Xavier’s voice had gone careful, gentle, nothing like the controlled urgency I usually heard from him. “You didn’t have to do this.”“I know.” Sofia’s fingers tightened around the cup. “I’ve thought about calling for months. I found something in my dad’s things after he stopped taking my calls. I didn’t understand what it was until recently.”She slid a small flash drive across the table, worn at the edges like it had been carried in a pocket for a long time.“What is it?” I asked.“Recordings. My dad used to record everything, meetings, conversations, anything that felt important enough to protect himself later.” Her voice wavered. “I found this one labeled with a date. Two years ago.