Chapter 7 - Laura’s Story
Laura Benton agreed to meet Emily only once.
They chose a quiet conference room at the district attorney’s office.
No reporters.
No Catherine.
No lawyers from Bellmont.
Laura arrived carrying an old leather handbag and wearing a dark green coat.
She was forty-one now.
Emily had expected someone visibly broken.
Laura looked ordinary.
That unsettled her.
Trauma, Emily realized, did not announce itself.
Laura sat across from her.
“For seven years, I imagined the next woman.”
Emily swallowed.
“You didn’t cause what happened to me.”
“I know.”
Laura’s eyes filled.
“I still imagined you.”
Neither spoke for several seconds.
Finally Emily asked, “Did he do the same thing?”
Laura shook her head.
“Not exactly.”
She described months of comments.
Unwanted touching.
Late-night assignments.
Richard gradually testing boundaries.
When Laura objected, he reminded her that her husband had recently lost his job.
He knew about their mortgage.
Her child’s medical bills.
Her immigration status had been secure, but Richard repeatedly implied he had friends who could “make problems.”
Then one night, he cornered her in a guest bedroom.
Laura escaped.
The next morning, she tried to tell Catherine.
“She said she was busy.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Laura continued.
“Richard came to me before lunch. He said antique silver was missing. He said cameras would show me taking it.”
“Were there cameras?”
“I never knew.”
“What happened?”
“He offered a choice.”
Laura’s voice flattened.
“Resign and sign an agreement, or be reported for felony theft.”
Emily felt sick.
“He paid you?”
“Eventually.”
“Four hundred eighty thousand?”
Laura stared at her.
“How do you know that?”
“Catherine found records.”
Laura looked toward the door.
“That wasn’t the original amount.”
“What was?”
“Seventy-five thousand.”
Emily stopped breathing.
The same number beside her initials.
Laura continued.
“I refused.”
“What happened?”
“Richard increased it. He told me nobody would hire me after a theft accusation. My husband wanted me to fight. Then someone mailed photographs of my daughter walking home from school.”
Emily’s stomach turned.
“Was Richard threatening her?”
“He said he knew nothing about the photographs.”
“But you believed—”
“I believed he wanted me afraid.”
Laura eventually signed a settlement negotiated through lawyers.
The agreement described an employment dispute.
It did not explicitly prohibit reporting a crime, but Laura had believed she would lose everything if she spoke publicly.
“I spent years thinking I chose money over courage,” Laura said.
Emily shook her head.
“You chose your family.”
“I chose survival.”
“That too.”
Laura opened her handbag.
“I kept something.”
She placed a small digital recorder on the table.
Emily stared.
“I recorded my final meeting with Richard.”
“Did police know?”
“They do now.”
“Why didn’t you use it then?”
“Because the worst thing he said was carefully vague.”
Laura pressed play.
Richard’s younger voice filled the room.
“You can leave with dignity, Laura, or you can make yourself unemployable.”
Laura’s recorded voice answered.
“You touched me.”
“I disagree.”
“You trapped me in that room.”
“I disagree.”
“I’m telling Catherine.”
A pause.
Then Richard laughed softly.
“My wife believes evidence.”
The recording stopped.
Emily’s throat tightened.
Laura looked at her.
“He knew exactly what Catherine’s weakness was.”
“What?”
“She thought refusing emotion made her rational.”
Emily remembered Catherine standing beneath the chandelier, expression unreadable while Richard accused Emily of seduction.
For several terrifying seconds, Emily had believed Catherine might choose him.
Laura continued.
“Richard learned how to hide inside Catherine’s standards.”
Across Manhattan that afternoon, Catherine confronted a different ghost.
Martin Shaw agreed to meet after his own attorney arranged it.
The meeting occurred at Naomi’s office.
Martin looked ten years older than he had a week earlier.
Catherine did not greet him.
“One million dollars.”
Martin stared at the table.
“Explain it.”
“My lawyer advised me not to answer.”
“Then why are you here?”
He looked at her.
“Because Richard is going to blame me for everything.”
Naomi spoke.
“Did you notarize Catherine’s signature when she wasn’t present?”
Martin closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Catherine’s jaw tightened.
“How many documents?”
“I don’t know.”
“Try.”
“Maybe twelve.”
Catherine stood so abruptly her chair struck the wall.
“Twelve?”
“Richard brought signed pages.”
“They were forged.”
“I know that now.”
“You knew then.”
“No.”
“You notarized me without seeing me!”
Martin raised his voice.
“He had originals with your signature!”
“And you took a million dollars.”
Silence.
Martin looked away.
Catherine stepped closer.
“For what?”
He whispered, “To fix a problem.”
“What problem?”
“Richard had evidence against me.”
Naomi interrupted.
“Do not describe potentially privileged material unless your attorney approves.”
Martin’s lawyer nodded reluctantly.
Martin continued.
“Years ago, I mishandled money from another client escrow account. I replaced it. No client lost funds. Richard discovered it.”
Catherine stared.
“So he blackmailed you.”
“Yes.”
“And then paid you?”
“The million wasn’t payment to me.”
“What was it?”
Martin swallowed.
“It went through my firm’s trust account.”
“To where?”
“I don’t know the final beneficiary.”
Naomi leaned forward.
“You transferred one million dollars without knowing where it went?”
“I knew the intermediary.”
“Who?”
Martin looked at Catherine.
“Halcyon Risk.”
Again.
The security company.
Catherine felt cold.
“What did Richard buy from them?”
Martin hesitated.
“I heard one phrase.”
“What phrase?”
“Contingency package.”
Catherine frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Martin looked genuinely frightened now.
“But Richard told me that if you ever tried to remove him from Bellmont, Halcyon would activate it.”
Catherine’s phone buzzed.
A message from Evelyn Hart.
WE HAVE A PROBLEM.
Then another.
BELL MONT’S SERVERS ARE BEING ATTACKED.
A third arrived seconds later.
SOMEONE IS RELEASING INTERNAL EMAILS UNDER YOUR NAME.
May you like
Catherine looked at Naomi.
The contingency package had just been activated.
