Chapter 14 - Brooke's Price
For years, Brooke had told everyone she was destined to be rich.
She never seemed particularly interested in how she would accomplish it.
According to Ryan, she had a talent for branding.
According to her bank statements, she had a talent for expensive mistakes.
Now someone using an imitation of my email address was trying to sell my company's confidential records.
Priya's security team preserved the communication and coordinated with law enforcement.
They did not purchase documents or engage in an improvised sting.
The offer itself was enough to trigger a serious internal response.
Malik identified similarities between the fake account and addresses used in the estate-planning correspondence.
The evidence did not yet establish who controlled it.
But the same infrastructure connected two schemes that Ryan's family insisted were unrelated.
Evelyn asked me to prepare for a difficult possibility.
“If the company believes its information is at risk, the investigation may scrutinize your access as well.”
“I didn't do this.”
“I know what you've told me, and we're preserving evidence that supports it.”
“I've been with Aegis North almost a decade.”
“Then let the record show who you are.”
I attended a meeting with Priya and Helen that afternoon.
I offered full cooperation and recused myself from decisions involving my own case.
Helen told me the committee had found no evidence supporting the anonymous allegation against me so far.
The relief was so sudden I had to grip the chair.
Outside that meeting, the attack on my reputation continued.
Brooke posted a long statement about being traumatized by the destruction of the New Year's dinner.
She claimed I had threatened everyone.
She claimed the family had begged me to calm down.
She omitted the injury that sent me to the hospital.
Within an hour, commenters were calling me cruel and manipulative.
I wanted to respond with pictures.
Evelyn advised me to keep evidence inside the legal process rather than turning it into an online contest.
I hated that advice because it was correct.
That evening, an unfamiliar woman called my lawyer.
Her name was April Foster.
She had briefly worked for Brooke as a virtual assistant.
April said she had quit after Brooke asked her to organize files from what she called “Claire's trust project.”
She had retained no copies of protected client documents, but she remembered a file name.
“FinalCut_NewYears_Original.”
Evelyn asked how she knew it.
“Brooke told me to delete every old backup that mentioned it.”
“Did you do that?”
“I removed only the files I was authorized to manage.”
April hesitated.
“Then I quit.”
I sat motionless as Evelyn asked the next question.
“Why are you coming forward now?”
April's answer was barely audible.
May you like
“Because Brooke said if Claire loses the baby, all their problems go away.”
