Chapter 8 - The Woman in White
Lauren called me at 9:07 a.m.
I did not answer.
She called again.
Then again.
On the fourth attempt, she left a voicemail.
Henry listened first.
He removed his glasses halfway through.
"What?"
I asked.
"You should hear it."
My father objected.
I ignored him.
Henry played the recording.
Lauren's voice came through breathless and unsteady.
"Clare, I know you hate me."
A pause.
"I deserve that."
Another pause.
"But there are things you don't know."
I felt my pulse quicken.
"Matthew told me you two had been separated privately for over a year."
My father muttered something under his breath.
Lauren continued.
"He told me you stayed married for investor optics."
"He told me Northstar belonged to him."
My eyes snapped toward Henry.
"He told me the money through TMG was his private founder compensation and that the board approved it."
Her breathing shook.
"I know how stupid that sounds now."
Then silence.
When she spoke again, her voice changed.
"Last night, I told him I was tired of hiding."
"I told him if he wanted a life with me, he had to stop letting you interfere."
My hands curled into the blanket.
"I did not tell him to hurt you."
"I swear to God, Clare, I did not know he was going to do that."
She began crying.
Not loudly.
Just enough that I heard her struggling to continue.
"After he came to my apartment, he scared me."
"Really scared me."
"He kept saying this was your fault."
"He said your father was going to regret humiliating him."
"He said if the board removed him, he would burn the company down before letting you have it."
Henry paused the audio.
My father stood.
"Send that to Ortiz."
"There's more."
He resumed.
"I have documents."
Lauren's voice had dropped to a whisper.
"Copies."
"Transfers."
"Emails."
"Matthew made me keep things outside the company servers."
"He said it was safer."
"I didn't understand why until this morning."
Then came the sentence that changed everything.
"He has another company."
Henry froze.
I sat straighter despite the pain.
Lauren continued.
"It's called Halcyon Data Partners."
"At least that's the name I know."
"He has been moving NexusCore client information into it for months."
Daniel Cho had warned Matthew repeatedly about customer-data segregation.
I remembered their arguments.
Matthew called compliance bureaucracy.
Lauren swallowed audibly.
"I think he planned to leave NexusCore after the Axion deal."
"Take key clients."
"Maybe sell something."
"I don't know."
"I have a storage drive."
"I will give it to you."
"But I need protection."
The voicemail ended.
My father looked at Henry.
"Call the police."
Henry was already dialing.
I stared at the phone.
Lauren had slept with my husband.
Helped hide millions in payments.
Participated in humiliating me.
But her fear sounded real.
And fear had made her do what guilt apparently never could.
Tell the truth.
"Henry."
He stopped.
"What?"
"If she turns over the drive, make sure she gets a lawyer."
My father looked at me in disbelief.
"Clare."
"I'm not forgiving her."
"Then why protect her?"
"Because if Matthew scared her enough to finally talk, I want her alive and talking."
My father fell silent.
Henry gave me a small nod.
"That's the right call."
Ten minutes later, Detective Ortiz arranged for Lauren to meet investigators at a secure location.
At 9:42, Lauren handed over a silver external drive.
At 10:03, forensic analysts opened the first directory.
Inside were folders labeled with NexusCore's ten largest clients.
And inside those folders were export logs.
Confidential pricing.
Contract renewal dates.
Source-code documentation.
Customer architecture maps.
All copied to Halcyon.
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Matthew had not merely been stealing from the company.
He had been preparing to hollow it out.
