Chapter 14 - THE MAN DANIEL HIT
Claire met Marcus Reed for the first time after sentencing.
She almost canceled.
Why?
Shame.
Not guilt legally.
Emotion.
Marcus had gone to meet “Claire.”
Her name opened the door.
He arrived using a cane.
Forty-two.
Thinner than old company photographs.
One leg still recovering.
Claire stood.
“I’m sorry.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
She looked confused.
“Don’t apologize for an email you didn’t send.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
Then Marcus said:
“I should’ve contacted you directly months earlier.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I thought Daniel was protecting you from the business mess.”
He laughed bitterly.
“Turns out he was protecting the business mess from you.”
They talked.
Marcus explained the inflated vendor invoices.
Some were improper.
Some were merely sloppy.
Lorraine’s brother had profited, but not to the extent Marcus first suspected.
The deeper problem was Daniel’s habit of using related parties without disclosure.
Again:
family as shortcut.
Then Marcus told Claire something she did not know.
Daniel once defended her.
Years earlier, a partner called Claire “dead weight” because she was not involved in the company.
Daniel nearly fired him.
Claire stared.
“Why tell me that?”
“Because people aren’t simple.”
She hated that answer.
Then accepted it.
Daniel could love Claire and exploit her.
Could defend her socially and forge her name financially.
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Contradiction did not cancel conduct.
It made betrayal more human.
