“Fire the director immediately.”

Daniel actually laughed when he heard me.

“Who are you pretending to call?”

I ended the call.

“You’ll find out.”

Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Claire, this is embarrassing.”

“No,” I said. “Embarrassing comes next.”

The ballroom doors opened.

Eleanor Price walked in accompanied by Vantage Meridian’s CEO, Martin Shaw, the head of Human Resources, and two board members.

Daniel’s smile began to fade.

Martin headed directly toward him.

“Daniel, we need to speak privately.”

Daniel adjusted his tuxedo.

“Of course. Is this about tomorrow’s leadership meeting?”

“It concerns your employment.”

Once again, the room went silent.

Daniel stared at him.

“What?”

Martin glanced in my direction.

Daniel followed his gaze.

For the first time that evening, uncertainty appeared on his face.

Vanessa whispered, “What’s happening?”

I picked up a napkin and calmly dried my hands.

Eleanor stopped beside me.

“Claire, are you injured?”

“No.”

Daniel blinked.

“Why does company counsel know my wife?”

Eleanor’s expression hardened.

“Because your wife represents the largest voting block in this company.”

Daniel gave a short laugh.

Nobody else did.

“That isn’t possible.”

Chairman Lang finally stepped forward.

“It is.”

His voice carried clearly across the ballroom.

“Harlow Capital became our primary restructuring investor last year. Mrs. Mercer is its controlling trustee.”

Daniel looked at me as though I had suddenly become someone else.

I could practically see him replaying every conversation he’d ignored.

Every time I mentioned having “an investment meeting.”

Every time he mocked my grandfather’s “little farm money.”

Every time he dismissed my work as boring.

Vanessa quietly moved away from him.

Daniel’s shock quickly hardened into anger.

“You hid this from me!”

“I didn’t hide it,” I replied. “You never cared enough to ask.”

His face reddened.

“This is my promotion. You can’t just take it away because you’re jealous.”

Martin opened a folder.

“Actually, the champagne incident is only the final issue.”

Daniel froze.

Eleanor handed me another copy.

For the previous three months, Harlow Capital’s compliance team had been investigating suspicious vendor contracts within Daniel’s division.

I had recognized the surname of Vanessa’s brother on one of the invoices.

Rather than confront Daniel, I requested an audit.

What it uncovered was far worse than an affair.

Daniel had authorized inflated consulting contracts with three companies secretly connected to Vanessa’s family.

Nearly $640,000 had been diverted through questionable payments.

Vanessa’s face went white.

Daniel snapped, “That’s ridiculous!”

Martin continued.

“We also recovered internal messages discussing kickbacks, falsified performance numbers, and an attempt to blame two junior managers if accounting discovered the discrepancies.”

By then, every executive in the ballroom was watching them.

Vanessa grabbed Daniel’s arm.

“You said those messages were deleted.”

The words escaped before she could stop herself.

A terrible silence followed.

I looked at her.

“Thank you, Vanessa.”

Daniel ripped his arm away.

“Shut up!”

Security moved closer.

I remained where I was.

Daniel pointed at me.

“You planned this.”

“No,” I said. “I planned to let the investigation finish quietly.”

I gestured toward the champagne soaking the front of my dress.