Chapter 13 - Naomi’s SignatureThe document was nine years old.
Asterline had been eighteen months old.
Naomi remembered those years as caffeine, desperation, and ambition compressed into endless nights.
She signed dozens of contracts every week.
But this agreement was different.
It authorized Asterline to use Mercer Strategic Capital’s confidential vendor data to train its early anomaly-detection models.
Naomi stared at her signature.
“If this is authentic…”
“It is,” Camille said.
“…then why don’t I remember it?”
“Because you didn’t read the appendix.”
Naomi looked up sharply.
Camille shrugged.
“You trusted your father.”
Beatrix examined the pages.
“Was the data legally licensed?”
“Yes,” Camille said. “Mostly.”
“Mostly isn’t a legal category.”
“The first dataset contained records from companies that had not individually consented.”
Naomi felt sick.
Asterline’s foundational models had been retrained many times since then.
No current system depended materially on those original records.
But the ethical problem remained.
Her company—the company she thought she had built cleanly—had begun with compromised data.
“My father knew?”
“Yes.”
“Jonathan?”
“Yes.”
“Vale?”
Camille smiled faintly.
“He drafted the agreement.”
Of course.
Vale collected secrets before anyone understood their future value.
Naomi asked, “Why didn’t he use this against me sooner?”
“He did.”
“How?”
“To keep Samuel quiet.”
Naomi looked at the email from her father confronting Roland.
Camille continued.
“Your father threatened to expose Northstar. Vale reminded him Asterline could face lawsuits if the old data issue became public.”
Beatrix said, “That doesn’t excuse fraud.”
“No.”
“Or prevent Samuel from telling Naomi privately.”
Camille looked at Naomi.
“He thought he was protecting her.”
Naomi hated the phrase.
Everyone protected her by deciding what she deserved to know.
Roland.
Her father.
Camille, when they were friends.
Even Beatrix occasionally tried to shield her from ugly facts until they were verified.
Naomi stood.
“No more.”
Camille frowned.
“No more what?”
“No more secrets disguised as protection.”
She turned to Beatrix.
“We disclose it.”
“Naomi.”
“To our board.”
“We should investigate first.”
“Yes. Immediately. Then disclose appropriately.”
Camille looked surprised.
“You’d risk the company?”
“I’d risk my position before building another lie.”
Something changed in Camille’s face.
Not admiration.
Perhaps confusion.
“You think being honest makes you better than me?”
“No.”
Naomi looked at her.
“Choosing honesty now doesn’t erase what I failed to see then.”
Camille’s eyes narrowed.
“You really believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Then admit your father bought you your start.”
“He helped me, yes.”
“Admit Jonathan Mercer opened doors.”
“Yes.”
“Admit people trusted your company because of your connections.”
“Some did.”
Camille seemed almost angry that Naomi would not defend the mythology.
“You don’t get to take my anger away.”
“I’m not trying to.”
Naomi’s voice softened.
“You were right about some things.”
Camille froze.
“But being right about inequality did not give you permission to betray me.”
Silence.
“You could have told me who Graham Vale was.”
Camille looked away.
“You could have exposed the data agreement.”
No answer.
“You could have walked away from Roland.”
Camille’s eyes filled.
“You think it was that easy?”
“No.”
“Then stop talking like it was.”
Naomi sat again.
“Tell me what wasn’t easy.”
Camille’s breathing changed.
“My mother spent twenty years cleaning up powerful men’s secrets.”
“Working for Vale.”
“Yes.”
“He paid for your school.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“He told me Jonathan Mercer ruined her career.”
“How?”
“Jonathan accused her of leaking documents.”
“Did she?”
Camille looked at the table.
“Yes.”
Naomi waited.
“She leaked them for Vale.”
“So Jonathan fired her.”
“Yes.”
“And Vale told you Jonathan destroyed her.”
Camille closed her eyes.
“I was nineteen.”
“You believed him.”
“Yes.”
“And when he told you to get close to me?”
“I thought I was gathering information about Samuel and Jonathan.”
“But then we became friends.”
Camille’s face cracked.
“Yes.”
There it was.
The first grief Naomi believed.
“Was any of it real?” Naomi asked.
Camille started crying silently.
“I hated you because it became real.”
Naomi felt tears threaten.
“You were my family.”
“I know.”
“You sat with me after procedures.”
“I know.”
“You held my hand.”
“I know.”
“And then you slept with Roland.”
Camille wiped her face.
“I wanted to prove I could take something from you.”
“Why?”
“Because by then I knew Graham had lied about half of what he told me.”
Naomi stared.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if you understand how much I hated myself.”
Camille laughed through tears.
“I had spent years manipulating someone who actually loved me. Every time you trusted me, I felt smaller.”
“So you punished me?”
“I made you into someone I could hate.”
Naomi understood.
Not forgiveness.
But understanding.
It was easier to destroy a person after rewriting them as deserving.
Roland had done the same.
Camille had done the same.
Perhaps Naomi had done some version of it too.
“What about Alistair?” Naomi asked.
Camille looked toward the window.
“Roland started pulling away from me.”
“Why?”
“He discovered irregularities in Northstar.”
“So you slept with his brother.”
“At first because I was furious.”
“And later?”
Camille rested one hand over her stomach.
“Because Alistair listened.”
Naomi’s expression softened despite herself.
“Do you love him?”
Camille did not answer.
That was answer enough.
“What happens to the baby?” Naomi asked.
Camille looked frightened for the first time.
“I don’t know.”
“Alistair wants involvement.”
“He says that now.”
“He resigned.”
“So?”
“He is cooperating.”
“Because he’s scared.”
“Yes.”
Camille looked at Naomi.
“People don’t change because one room applauds their confession.”
“No.”
Naomi thought of Roland.
“They change if they keep telling the truth after the room empties.”
Camille looked down.
Beatrix’s phone buzzed.
She read the message.
“Vale has begun cooperating.”
Camille’s head snapped up.
“With whom?”
“Investigators.”
“What did he say?”
“Among other things, he claims Evelyn Mercer knew about the forged Asterline invoices before the baby shower.”
Naomi went still.
“That means her gift wasn’t merely a warning.”
Beatrix nodded.
“She may have knowingly circulated fabricated evidence.”
Camille laughed bitterly.
“Welcome to the family.”
Naomi stood.
“No.”
Camille frowned.
“I’m done letting this family define the room.”
She picked up the old Asterline agreement.
“I’m going to clean my own house first.”
“And then?”
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Naomi looked at Camille.
“Then everyone else answers for theirs.”
