Chapter 10 - Before We Met
My father had been dead for seven years.
There was nobody left to ask.
So I searched his records.
Old emails.
Archived company documents.
Personnel files.
Eventually, Amy found Daniel’s original résumé.
He had applied to Hartwell eleven months before we met.
My father interviewed him.
And rejected him.
The notes were blunt.
Intelligent. Ambitious. Strong presentation. Concerns regarding integrity and attribution of team results. Do not proceed.
Daniel never told me.
Months later, he approached me at a charity event.
I had believed it was coincidence.
It wasn’t.
That realization broke something different inside me.
Had he ever loved me?
Or had I simply been another door?
I finally agreed to meet him.
Not privately.
Through attorneys.
A conference room.
Daniel entered looking ten years older.
No tailored suit.
No expensive watch.
No confidence.
He sat across from me.
For a long moment, neither of us spoke.
Then I placed the photograph on the table.
His face changed.
“You found it.”
“You knew my father.”
“Yes.”
“Before me.”
“Yes.”
“Did you meet me deliberately?”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
The word landed quietly.
“Why?”
“I wanted another chance at Hartwell.”
I stared at him.
“So our first date—”
“Was supposed to be networking.”
“Supposed to be?”
He looked at me.
“Then I fell in love with you.”
I wanted to believe that.
Part of me probably always would.
But love without honesty had become meaningless.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because after three months, I knew if I told you, I’d lose you.”
“So you lied for eleven years.”
“Yes.”
I asked the question I had been afraid to ask.
“Was any of it real?”
Daniel started crying.
I had seen him angry.
Smug.
Cruel.
Defensive.
I had almost never seen him cry.
“You were.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“I loved you, Claire.”
“And still did this.”
He wiped his face.
“I started believing I deserved what you had.”
“No. You believed you deserved to take it.”
He nodded.
That surprised me.
“Yes.”
For once, no excuse.
No manipulation.
Just truth.
He told investigators everything he knew.
Not for me.
His attorneys had negotiated cooperation.
But the information helped dismantle the network around Northstar.
When the meeting ended, Daniel stood.
“Claire.”
I looked up.
“I am sorry about the soup.”
Of all the things.
I almost smiled.
“Why that?”
“Because that was the moment I saw what I had become.”
I shook my head.
“No, Daniel.”
He waited.
“That was just the moment everyone else saw it.”
I walked away.
Outside, the air was cold and bright.
Rebecca followed.
“How do you feel?”
I thought about it.
“Finished.”
And I meant it.
But finishing with Daniel did not mean the consequences were finished with me.
Because the next morning, Hartwell’s largest client announced it was suspending its contract pending the outcome of the investigation.
The company suddenly faced a thirty-million-dollar hole.
Daniel might not destroy Hartwell.
But his betrayal could still cost hundreds of people their jobs.
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And I refused to let that happen.
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