Chapter 2 - The Funeral and the First Thread
The funeral was a grand, somber affair, paid for entirely by Garrett’s firm to project the image of a grieving, supportive community. Garrett stood by the casket, weeping openly, receiving condolences from city council members, wealthy clients, and colleagues.
Vanessa Vance was there, wearing a modest black dress and a veil that partially obscured her face. When she approached Clara, she offered a soft, rehearsed hug.
"I am so, so sorry, Clara," Vanessa whispered, her voice dripping with artificial sympathy. "If there is anything Garrett and I can do at the firm to ease the burden..."
Clara hugged her back, leaning close enough to inhale the faint scent of jasmine. "You’ve already done so much, Vanessa. More than you know."
Vanessa pulled away, a flicker of unease in her eyes, but Clara offered her a fragile, broken smile that completely disarmed her.
As the service ended, Clara watched Garrett walk toward his car. He looked relieved that the worst of the public scrutiny was over. He believed he had gotten away with it. He believed Clara’s silence was the result of grief-induced shock.
That night, Clara sat in Ethan’s room, surrounded by his toys. She did not cry. Instead, she opened Garrett’s personal laptop. Using a keylogger she had installed two days prior, she easily bypassed his passwords.
She bypassed his personal emails and went straight to his hidden cloud storage. There, she found what she was looking for: folders of digital blueprints, offshore bank routing numbers, and intimate photos of Vanessa.
But it was the financial folders that caught her attention. Garrett’s firm was currently bidding on a multi-million-dollar municipal contract to build the city’s new waterfront arts center. The bids were sealed, and the competition was fierce.
Clara downloaded the entire bidding proposal, including the confidential cost estimates and the proprietary structural designs that Garrett had spent the last six months developing.
She opened an encrypted email client and sent the entire package to the inbox of Arthur Pendelton, the CEO of Apex Development—Garrett’s fiercest rival.
She attached a simple, anonymous note: “A gift from a disgruntled partner. Do with this what you will. More to come.”
The next morning, Clara made breakfast for Garrett. She poured his coffee and placed a plate of eggs in front of him, just as she had done for years.
"How are you holding up, honey?" Garrett asked, trying to sound like a caring husband while scrolling through his phone.
"I'm surviving," Clara said softly. "I think I want to start getting involved in the charity foundation again. It might help me heal."
Garrett smiled, looking visibly relieved. "That's a wonderful idea, Clara. Take whatever funds you need from the joint household account. I want you to be happy."
"Thank you, Garrett," Clara said, watching him take a sip of his coffee. You want me happy, she thought, because a happy wife doesn't look at your bank accounts.
An hour later, Garrett left for the office. The moment his car pulled out of the driveway, Clara called Marcus.
"The bait has been sent to Pendelton," Clara said. "Now, we need the financial leverage. Have you found the offshore account Vanessa was using?"
"Yes," Marcus replied over the encrypted line. "It's based in the Cayman Islands. But she didn't open it alone. Garrett’s name is on the secondary authorization. They’ve been funneling money from the municipal library project into this account for eighteen months. It’s over two million dollars."
"Can you freeze it?"
May you like
"Not yet," Marcus said. "If I freeze it, they’ll know they’ve been caught and they might flee. We need to lure them into making one massive transfer. We need to make them think they are about to win everything, and then pull the rug out."
"I’ll handle Garrett," Clara said, her voice ice-cold. "I'll make him think he's invincible."
