Chapter 2 - THE NAME RYAN SHOULD NOT HAVE KNOWN
“...principal subject.”
The words landed quietly.
That made them worse.
Ryan’s face went white.
Amber laughed once in confusion.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel closed the folder.
He did not answer her.
Ryan did.
Barely.
“You’re with the Inspector General.”
Claire’s head turned.
She knew Daniel worked for the federal government.
She knew he was an attorney assigned to healthcare integrity matters.
She did not know Ryan knew him by sight.
Daniel looked at Claire.
“I planned to tell you tonight after the gala.”
“Tell me what?”
His jaw tightened.
“Ryan is connected to an investigation my office has been working for eleven months.”
The ballroom seemed to tilt.
Claire looked at Ryan.
He recovered enough to say:
“This is completely inappropriate.”
Daniel nodded.
“Yes. Which is why I’m not discussing investigative details here.”
Amber snapped:
“You just walked in waving a federal folder.”
“I walked in carrying my work because I came directly from Washington.”
Ryan pointed at Claire.
“She knew.”
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“No.”
Claire stared at her former fiancé.
“What exactly would I have known?”
Ryan looked around the room.
Too many witnesses.
Too many phones.
Too many people who suddenly found the ballroom fascinating.
He lowered his voice.
“This is a setup.”
Claire almost smiled.
“You slept with my sister before I met Daniel.”
Amber flinched.
Ryan said nothing.
That timeline mattered.
Daniel had entered Claire’s life months after the engagement ended.
There had been no revenge marriage.
No federal seduction.
No trap.
Only coincidence.
Or so Claire thought.
Then Daniel said:
“Ryan, leave.”
Ryan laughed bitterly.
“You don’t own the room.”
“No.”
Daniel looked toward two men in suits near the ballroom entrance.
“But the hotel security team has been asked to preserve every camera recording from tonight, and your attorney has already been informed that you are not to contact me directly.”
Ryan’s confidence cracked.
Amber stared at him.
“Your attorney?”
Ryan turned on Daniel.
“What did you do?”
Daniel replied:
May you like
“Nothing tonight.”
That sentence terrified him more.
