Chapter 4 - Target
After Catherine was taken down, the corridor remained stained with bisque and pearls.
Employees stood behind the glass, unsure whether to look away or finally admit they had been watching for years.
Blake was still on the wall monitor.
“Riley,” he said softly. “Go into your office. We need to talk privately.”
That voice.
The reasonable voice.
The one he used after every line he crossed.
Riley looked at the security officer.
“Is the call recorded?”
“Yes, ma’am. Executive conference system logs calls by default.”
Blake’s eyes sharpened.
“Riley.”
She stepped closer to the monitor.
“You knew I was pregnant.”
Blake exhaled, almost annoyed.
“Of course I knew.”
Mia went still beside her.
Riley’s voice stayed low.
“How?”
Blake hesitated.
Too long.
Then said, “You’re my wife.”
“That is not an answer.”
“You’ve been emotional. Nauseated. Secretive.”
“How did you know before I told you?”
He looked away from the camera.
That small movement did more than any confession.
The security officer lowered his radio slightly.
Mia whispered, “Riley.”
Riley swallowed.
“My medical app.”
Blake said nothing.
“You accessed my phone backup.”
Still nothing.
Riley felt the world narrow.
She remembered Blake asking to “fix” her phone after it froze during a board trip.
She remembered him entering her passcode because she trusted him then.
She remembered her health app syncing to the household tablet.
Household.
The word felt filthy now.
Blake leaned closer to the screen.
“You were hiding a pregnancy from me.”
“I was protecting myself.”
“That’s absurd.”
“Then why did you send soup through a fake courier?”
His face hardened.
“I didn’t send fake soup.”
The security officer glanced at his phone.
“Mr. Sterling, your executive assistant has already confirmed you told her the delivery was ‘sensitive’ and not to process it through normal intake.”
Blake’s mask slipped.
Only for a second.
But enough.
Riley put one hand over her abdomen.
“Why lobster?”
No answer.
“Why today?”
No answer.
“Why in the corridor?”
Blake’s eyes flicked to Mia.
To the employees.
To the visible cameras.
He had expected public pressure.
Not public evidence.
The wall monitor suddenly changed.
Incoming call joined.
Board Counsel.
The name appeared at the bottom.
Then another.
Interim CFO.
Then another.
Audit Committee Chair.
Riley stared at the screen.
Mia whispered, “I called them when Catherine raised her hand.”
Riley turned.
Mia’s face was pale, but steady.
“I also sent the vendor file.”
For the first time that day, Riley nearly cried.
Not because of Blake.
Because of Mia.
Because someone had seen the pattern and chosen to stand beside her before the official proof arrived.
The audit committee chair, a woman named Denise Hart, appeared on the screen.
“Riley, are you safe?”
Riley looked at the spilled soup.
The pearls.
The thermal bag.
Her reddened cheek.
Her hand over her baby.
“No,” she said honestly. “But I’m not alone.”
Denise’s expression hardened.
“Good. Blake, stay on this call.”
Blake tried to recover.
“This is being blown wildly out of proportion.”
Denise said, “Your mother struck an operations executive on camera. A suspicious delivery bypassed safety protocols under your authority. The target is your pregnant wife. The vendor involved is already under audit. Nothing about this is out of proportion.”
Riley closed her eyes.
Target.
There it was.
The word no wife wants attached to herself.
Target.
Not dramatic.
Not sensitive.
May you like
Not disobedient.
Target.
