Their attorney had just received my formal notice.

The restaurant around us had gone completely silent.

Madison reached for her purse.

“Where are you going?” Daniel demanded.

She stared at him.

I answered instead.

“Probably somewhere without cameras.”

My father put his stained glasses back on.

“Claire,” he said, “we’re ready.”

So was I.

By nine the next morning, Harrington Logistics was already a different company.

The bank suspended new draws while it reviewed the audit.

Two board members called for an emergency meeting.

The outside counsel Madison had always mocked as “Claire’s expensive hall monitor” advised the company to preserve every financial record.

At 10:17, Daniel called me twelve times.

I answered the thirteenth.

“Please,” he said. There was no anger left in his voice. “Don’t do this.”

“I’m not doing anything now. I already did it.”

“We can fire Madison.”

“That was one of the choices you had last night.”