Then I remembered Naomi.
Then Victoria upstairs.
“Fine.”
Daniel lived in a townhouse twenty minutes away.
I called from the sidewalk.
He answered on the second ring.
“Open the door.”
“I’m outside.”
Then the lock clicked.
Daniel appeared wearing sweatpants and a gray sweater.
His hair was messy.
His face looked confused.
Then he saw Richard behind me.
His expression changed.
I stepped inside.
“Tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
I looked directly at him.
“How did Bellamy files end up in your private cloud?”
Everything stopped.
Daniel didn’t blink.
Didn’t breathe.
That was answer enough.
I felt something tear inside me.
“Daniel.”
He closed the door.
Richard stayed near it.
Daniel looked older suddenly.
“Don’t.”
He rubbed his face.
“I can explain.”
“Then explain.”
He walked toward the living room.
On his dining table sat three folders.
One had North Coast’s logo.
My stomach turned.
He sat down.
“I didn’t know Adrian was involved at first.”
I laughed.
One sharp sound.
“That’s your defense?”
“North Coast approached me eight months ago.”
“To discuss Bellamy.”
“Why you?”
“Because they knew Whitmore wanted it.”
My hands went cold.
“You were playing both sides.”
“I was trying to protect us.”
I almost lost control.
“Everybody keeps saying that right before admitting betrayal.”
Daniel flinched.
“I thought Whitmore was undervaluing the company.”
“So you sent confidential information to a competitor?”
I pointed at the folders.
“Then what is that?”
“Valuation models.”
“With our numbers.”
“Our private numbers.”
“Do you hear yourself?”
“I wanted leverage.”
“Against who?”
“Whitmore.”
“Without telling me.”
“You would have refused.”
“That’s why.”
My eyes burned.
“So you decided my company needed protection from me.”
“Our company.”
The words exploded out of him.
The real thing.
Not strategy.
Not leverage.
Resentment.
“You think Carter Retail is yours.”
“I built it too.”
“Do you?”
“Then why is your name on everything?”
I went still.
He looked horrified by his own words.
But they were out.
And they were true to him.
“You think I took credit from you.”
“I think people act like you built this alone.”
“I have never said that.”
“You never had to.”
Richard shifted slightly.
Daniel looked at him.
“This is private.”
Richard answered, “So is stolen commercial data.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“Stay out of it.”
Daniel looked back at me.
“Simone, I did not sell anything.”
“Did you send files to North Coast?”
“Some.”
My heart sank.
“How many?”
“Enough to show them Whitmore’s offer was low.”
“Did Adrian get them?”
“Did you know North Coast was working with him?”
“Did you know they were going to use them to pressure me?”
“Did you sign an NDA?”
“Did you violate it?”
I sat down.
Not because I wanted to.
Because my knees had weakened.
Daniel whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“I told you.”
I shook my head.
“You told me what you did.”
I looked up.
“Why did you betray me?”
His eyes filled.
“For years, I watched you become the face of everything we built.”
“You got the magazine covers.”
“Daniel—”
“The keynote speeches.”
“Because you hated public speaking.”
“I hated being invisible.”
That stopped me.
He laughed bitterly.
“I told myself it didn’t matter.”
“For twenty-three years?”
“For twenty-three years.”
My chest hurt.
“You could have told me.”
“You were always moving.”
“That’s not an excuse.”
“You sat beside me after Naomi died.”
His face crumpled.
“You know what trust means to me.”
“And you still did this.”
He started crying.
Not theatrically.