"Where did she go?" Thomas demanded.
"Down 4th Street," Kevin stammered.
Thomas turned to Martha, his jaw set like stone. "Get the car. We are going to give her back the empire they stole."
Chloe walked six blocks in the relentless Chicago rain, completely forgetting she had an umbrella in her bag. She didn't care. Her shoes filled with freezing water, and her ponytail stuck to her neck.
Fired. Over four dollars.
By the time she reached her cramped apartment, despair had hardened into a quiet, simmering rage. She threw her wet coat over a chair and opened her laptop. Her mind kept circling back to the intense look the old man had given her.
On a whim, Chloe typed the only clue she had—the name on his expensive pen. LAWSON.
She searched: LAWSON CHICAGO SARAH VANCE.
An archived directory from twenty years ago loaded on the screen.
SARAH E. VANCE – Financial Compliance Assistant. 2002–2004.
Chloe stopped breathing. Her mother had worked there.
She opened another tab, finding a scanned newspaper article from 2006: LAWSON PARTNER SENTENCED IN HOUSING FRAUD CASE.
Chloe read quickly. Millions in federal funds stolen. And one name appeared: Sarah Vance. Not as a hero, but as a disgraced employee dismissed after internal misconduct allegations.
Chloe slammed the laptop shut. Her hands shook. Her mother died in a car crash when Chloe was six, leaving her to be raised in poverty. She had always been told her mother was honest. Had she been a thief?
At 11:36 p.m., a sharp knock shattered the silence.
Chloe froze.
Another knock. "Chloe? Please open the door."
Chloe crept to the door and opened it halfway.
Standing in the dim hallway was Martha. Her silver hair was damp. She was holding a small paper bag—the untouched food from booth seven.
"How did you find my address?" Chloe demanded.
"Thomas has his ways," Martha winced. "I told him not to come. I wanted to do this alone."
Martha looked down. "Your mother worked for my husband. Thomas Lawson."
Chloe gripped the doorframe. "Your husband is the billionaire who ruined my mother’s life?"
Martha’s eyes filled with tears. "Yes. But he didn't know the truth. Sarah discovered the fraud. She tried to report it. The men in charge framed her to protect themselves."
"And your husband believed them," Chloe spat.