Chapter 9
Rachel stepped closer.
“I believe part of you genuinely wants to help me.”
His eyes filled with hope.
“But I will never be able to separate that part from the part of you that knows who I am now.”
His face fell.
“You don’t trust me.”
“I trusted you yesterday.”
That landed harder.
Daniel looked down.
Rachel continued.
“If you want to help, tell Samuel Reed everything you know about Project Lighthouse. Every meeting. Every document. Every conversation with Vanessa and her father.”
Daniel’s eyes snapped up.
“That could end my career.”
Rachel said nothing.
He stared at her.
Then he understood.
Not a threat.
A choice.
The first honest choice he’d been given in a long time.
“I need to think.”
Rachel nodded.
“Then think.”
She returned to the boardroom.
At 3:40 that afternoon, Daniel called Samuel.
He agreed to cooperate.
By evening, Northstar’s legal team had information they hadn’t known existed.
Pierce had obtained confidential medical information about Evelyn.
Internal board communications had been shared improperly.
One Northstar director had been promised an advisory role worth millions after the acquisition.
More importantly, Project Lighthouse included a strategy called Green Window.
The plan was simple.
If the heir resisted the sale, Holloway Pierce would create a public narrative that the heir was emotionally unstable, professionally unqualified, and overwhelmed by grief.
Rachel read the document.
One line made her blood run cold.
Potential marital instability may provide additional leverage if identity of heir is confirmed.
Rachel looked at Samuel.
“Was my marriage part of their plan?”
“We don’t know.”
“Was Vanessa?”
“We don’t know.”
Rachel stared at the paper.
For the first time since Daniel threw her suitcase into the rain, anger broke through her control.
Not because he had cheated.
That wound was personal.
May you like
This was different.
If Vanessa had deliberately entered her marriage to gain information…
