The hallway seemed to tilt.
"It's you," he said.
Chapter 3 - The First Charter
For a moment, the hallway outside the auditorium went strangely quiet — not actually silent, just distant, like the rest of the office had faded to background noise.
I read the line again, slower. *The person with deciding rights over that investment is Claire Kingsley Ashford.* My mother's maiden name sat between my own like a door I'd never known existed.
"What does this mean?" I asked Walter.
"It means your mother believed in the foundation of what later became Nexora."
Derek stared at the page, pale. "You didn't know?" I asked him.
"No," he said, and for once I believed him completely. Two years of marriage had taught me exactly what Derek looked like when he was selling confidence, hiding exhaustion, or waiting for everyone else to catch up to a decision he'd already made. This was none of those. This was shock.
