THE AMBUSH IN SUITE 402: He called it an honest mistake, just before I robbed him of his empire.

I closed the door behind me and walked slowly toward his desk, keeping my hands folded in front of my coat.

“I didn’t come to negotiate the settlement, Caleb,” I said softly, letting my voice sound fragile and beaten. “I came because I looked at the bank accounts for Greenline Spaces.”

Caleb froze. A subtle shift occurred in his eyes—a flicker of predatory calculation.

“What about them?” he asked cautiously.

“There’s a company called G-Land Developments,” I said, my voice trembling with feigned fear. “Hundreds of thousands of dollars are flowing through my company, Caleb. Federal money. I don’t know what it is! Maya says I could go to jail!”

Caleb walked around his desk and stopped about half a meter in front of me. The cold, manipulative mask he had worn for twenty-one years fully reappeared. He smiled—a repulsive, condescending smile.

“Claire, calm down,” he said gently, patting me on the shoulder. “You’re not going to prison. You know nothing about G-Land. You’ve never even touched a book.”

“But my name is on the tax return!” I cried quietly, looking him in the eye. “You forced me to sign these papers, Caleb! Did you use my company to hide money for Tessa?”

Caleb sighed in annoyance and shook his head as if dealing with a rebellious child. “Tessa has nothing to do with G-Land, Claire. I set up this structure to shift consulting fees from city contracts without having to pay forty percent corporate tax. It’s pure tax optimization. You signed the forms because I told you to and because you trusted me. If anyone ever asks, just say you trusted your husband and weren’t involved in the transfers in any way. You don’t know anything, Claire. I managed every single dollar of G-Land myself.”

Beneath my lapel, the microscopic microphone captured every single word, perfectly recorded in ultra-high audio quality.

“So you did everything without me?” I asked, looking him straight in the eyes.

“Of course I did,” Caleb said proudly, leaning closer to her. “You just don’t have what it takes for high-profile corporate finance, darling. I took care of everything. Now go home, fire Maya, sign the settlement, and I’ll make sure G-Land never touches you again.”

I stepped back and regarded him with a strange mixture of pity and absolute triumph.

“Thank you, Caleb,” I said quietly. “That was all I needed to hear.”

Before he could notice the change in my facial expression, I turned around and left his office, leaving him standing next to his glass desk.