Chapter 6
Selene denied taking the package.
Lucius met her only with attorneys present.
Rachel had insisted.
Selene entered the conference room wearing the same controlled expression she had used for years whenever family business became unpleasant.
Lucius thought of Willa outside in the mud.
Control no longer impressed him.
“Did you enter my office after the crash?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You were missing.”
“That isn’t a reason.”
“I needed insurance information. Account contacts. Emergency documents.”
“Did you take anything from my desk?”
“No.”
“The engineering package?”
“No.”
“Did you know about it?”
“No.”
Lucius watched her.
Then asked a different question.
“Why did you fire Claire?”
Selene’s composure weakened slightly.
“She interfered with household discipline.”
“She comforted our daughter.”
“She undermined me in front of staff.”
“Willa believed I was dead.”
“We all believed you were dead.”
Lucius leaned forward.
“You told her before a body was identified.”
Selene looked away.
“You had been missing for days.”
“Thirty-one hours.”
Silence.
Lucius continued.
“Why were you in such a hurry?”
Her eyes flashed.
“Because everything fell apart when you disappeared.”
“No.”
His voice remained calm.
“You started changing everything before anyone knew whether I was dead.”
Selene stood.
Her attorney touched her arm.
She sat again.
For the first time, Lucius saw fear.
Not grief.
Not anger.
Fear.
But it did not appear when he mentioned Willa.
It appeared when he returned to the warehouse.
That distinction mattered.
After the meeting, Rachel gave Lucius advice he did not want.
“Stop confronting her.”
“She lies.”
“Then let the records prove it.”
Lucius looked at her.
“That takes time.”
“So does raising a three-year-old.”
He almost objected.
Then did not.
At home, Willa fell asleep sitting beside him on the couch.
Her hand remained wrapped around one finger of his.
Lucius stared at the Christmas lights beyond the windows and understood something uncomfortable.
May you like
For most of his life, speed had been power.
Now speed was exactly what Selene had used against him.
