Chapter 1 - THE LAMP ON THE FLOOR
Griffin Caldwell’s hand struck Claire before the first shareholder arrived.
The back of his knuckles caught her across the left cheek and sent her sideways into the narrow walnut console in the hallway of their Greenwich townhouse.
The brass lamp toppled first.
Then Claire.
The bulb exploded against the hardwood with a sharp white flash.
“You will smile for my shareholders tonight,” Griffin said, breathing hard, “even if I have to knock the attitude out of you.”
Claire stayed braced against the console.
Her cheek burned. Broken glass glittered beside the hem of her navy gown. Behind Griffin, the dining room had already been set for fourteen—crystal, white flowers, place cards, the ridiculous silver pheasants Osric insisted belonged at serious dinners.
Osric Caldwell stepped out of the study.
Sixty-eight. Silver hair. Black dinner suit.
He looked at Claire’s face.
Then at the lamp.
Then stepped around both.
“Ice your face and get downstairs,” he said. “The Whitfields matter more than your little humiliation.”
Griffin caught Claire’s upper arm and jerked her upright.
That was when Mara appeared.
Griffin’s younger sister stood near the staircase in a dark green dress, holding a folded cocktail napkin.
She didn’t rush forward.
She watched.
Claire twisted against Griffin’s hand.
“Let go.”
He tightened his grip.
Claire struck his wrist away.
Then she pulled out her phone.
“That hallway camera recorded everything,” she said. “And someone in this family moved the file.”
Griffin’s anger faltered.
Osric stopped walking.
Mara went pale.
Claire opened the home-security application.
The live camera was still online.
The playback window from three minutes earlier was gone.
But the administrator activity history showed that someone had transferred the recording to another storage location.
Mara stepped toward her.
“You were never supposed to still have access to that account.”
Griffin turned slowly.
“What?”
Mara dropped the napkin.
Then she lunged for Claire’s phone.
Claire twisted it away.
For one second another recording thumbnail appeared below the missing file.
Same hallway.
Same console.
Different night.
May you like
In the tiny image, Osric’s arm was raised.
And Griffin was the one backed against the wall.
