Chapter 14 - THE OLD APARTMENT
Detective Ellis forbade me from going alone.
My father forbade me from going at all.
For once, I agreed.
The police went first.
The key opened apartment 4C in Queens.
Our first home.
Matthew had secretly kept the lease.
I had no idea.
At 7:20 p.m., Ellis called.
“He isn't here.”
“What is?”
She hesitated.
“You should probably see this.”
Two hours later, with police clearance, I entered the apartment.
Nothing had changed.
The same narrow kitchen.
The same cracked tile near the refrigerator.
The same window where I once sat building our first investor deck.
Even the cheap wooden table remained.
It felt like walking into a preserved version of my own foolishness.
Then I saw the wall.
Photographs covered it.
NexusCore's first office.
Our wedding.
My father.
Victor.
Lauren.
Board members.
Investors.
Dozens of handwritten notes connected them.
Matthew had turned our beginning into a strategy room.
Detective Ellis pointed toward a desk.
“He wanted you to find this.”
A laptop sat open.
One video file waited on the screen.
My name was the title.
CLARE_FINAL.
I pressed play.
Matthew appeared.
No suit.
No polished office.
He looked exhausted.
“Clare.”
I almost closed it.
Then he continued.
“If you're watching this, Victor betrayed me.”
The recording was dated two weeks earlier.
Before the beating.
Before my call.
Matthew leaned toward the camera.
“You think your father is saving you.”
“He isn't.”
“He's protecting Sterling Capital.”
My father's jaw tightened behind me.
Matthew continued.
“Ask him who funded Victor's first NexusCore acquisition vehicle.”
I turned toward Dad.
His face changed.
“What?”
He did not answer immediately.
That terrified me.
The video continued.
“Ask him why Sterling Capital knew about Lighthouse before you did.”
I paused the video.
“Dad?”
He took a breath.
“One of our funds had indirect exposure.”
“How long did you know?”
“Not about fraud.”
“How long?”
“Four months.”
Anger moved through me.
“You knew something was wrong for four months?”
“We knew transactions were irregular.”
“And you didn't call me?”
“You had not spoken to me for seven years.”
“You could have tried.”
“I did.”
“When?”
He looked away.
“Three times.”
I remembered unknown numbers.
Voicemails I deleted after hearing his assistant's voice.
My anger lost some certainty.
But not all.
“You should have done more.”
“Yes.”
His answer surprised me.
“I should have.”
No defense.
No excuse.
Just truth.
I looked back at the screen.
Matthew continued.
“Richard Sterling let me become powerful because NexusCore made his network richer.”
“Don't pretend this is about family.”
“He is using your injuries to take back what he thinks belongs to him.”
The video ended.
Silence filled the apartment.
I looked at my father.
“Is that what you're doing?”
His face hardened.
“No.”
“Would you tell me if it were?”
“Yes.”
“Then prove it.”
He stared at me.
“How?”
“Sterling Capital stays out of any bid for NexusCore assets.”
He did not hesitate.
“Done.”
“No funds you control.”
“Done.”
“No proxies.”
“Done.”
“If I return to the company, you don't control my vote.”
“Done.”
I studied him.
He stepped closer.
“Clare, I want my daughter back.”
“I do not need your company.”
The words broke something inside me.
Not painfully.
Cleanly.
Detective Ellis's phone rang.
She answered.
Then looked sharply toward us.
“What?”
I asked.
She covered the receiver.
“They found Matthew.”
“Where?”
“At NexusCore headquarters.”
My pulse jumped.
“Why?”
Ellis's expression darkened.
May you like
“He locked himself inside the executive floor.”
“And building security says he brought gasoline.”
