Daniel held onto it.
After the call, he turned to Thomas.
"She's safe."
Thomas smiled.
"Then you have a chance."
Daniel nodded.
But the crisis was far from over.
A message arrived from his attorney, containing a photograph of several documents recovered from Victoria's car.
The papers appeared to authorize a transfer of voting rights in Daniel's company.
If accepted by the board, they would allow Victoria and two other executives to remove Daniel from his position and take control of the company's most valuable assets.
The signature on the documents looked exactly like his.
Daniel stared at the photograph.
He recognized the signature.
He had signed a similar document six months earlier, when the company was reorganizing its executive structure.
But that document had been intended for a completely different purpose.
Someone had copied his signature onto a new agreement.
Someone had used his own trust against him.
He called his attorney.
"Where did these come from?"
"Victoria's vehicle. The police found them during the initial investigation."
"Are they originals?"
"Some are. Others appear to be copies."
"Can you trace the electronic records?"
"We're trying."
Daniel leaned back.
"There's another person involved."
"What makes you think that?"
"Victoria didn't have access to everything. Someone helped her."
The attorney was silent.
Then he said, "We've been considering the same possibility."
Daniel closed his eyes.
The company had been his life's work.
He had sacrificed holidays, relationships, and years he could never recover to build it.
Now he was finally beginning to understand that he had sacrificed those things for an organization that could be taken apart by people he had trusted.
He wondered whether the company was worth saving.
Then he remembered the employees.
The engineers who had joined when the business was nothing more than a rented room. The customer service representatives who stayed late during product launches. The warehouse workers who had supported their families with the wages his company provided.
They had trusted him too.
If Victoria succeeded, thousands of people could lose their jobs.
He could not simply walk away.
But he could no longer make the company the center of his life.
There had to be a way to protect the employees without sacrificing Maya again.
He called his chief operating officer, Marcus Bennett.
Marcus answered after two rings.
"Daniel, thank goodness. Where are you?"
"On a flight home. What's happening?"
"Victoria's team is trying to call an emergency board meeting."
"Do not let them authorize any transfers."
"We've already frozen several accounts. The bank is cooperating."
"Good. I need you to protect the employees and preserve every record."
"Understood."
"And Marcus?"
"Yes?"
"If the board removes me, don't fight just to keep me in the chair. Protect the company."
Marcus was silent.
"Daniel, you've spent twenty years building this business."
"I know."
"You can't just surrender it."
"I'm not surrendering anything. I'm making sure it survives."
Marcus hesitated.
"There's something you should know."
Daniel sat forward.
"What?"
"Victoria wasn't working alone."
"I suspected that."
"The person helping her is someone on the board."
"Who?"
Marcus lowered his voice.
"Richard Vale."
Daniel felt the blood drain from his face.
Richard Vale had been his closest business ally for twelve years.
He had attended Elena's funeral.
He had helped Daniel through the company's first major financial crisis.
He had stood beside him at the opening of the company's headquarters and told reporters that Daniel was one of the most trustworthy leaders he had ever known.
Richard had also been the person who recommended Victoria for the chief financial officer position.
Daniel had defended him through every controversy.
"Are you certain?" Daniel asked.
"We found messages between Richard and Victoria. They discussed the transfers, the false documents, and the timing of the board meeting."
Daniel looked at the ceiling.
"Why?"
"Money, I assume."
"Richard has more money than he could spend in three lifetimes."
"Then perhaps it's power."
Daniel almost laughed.
Power.
He had spent so much of his life pursuing it that he had forgotten to ask what it was supposed to accomplish.
"Marcus, preserve everything. Don't confront him yet."
"Understood."
"And one more thing."
"Go ahead."
"If anyone asks you to choose between protecting me and protecting the employees, choose the employees."
Marcus's voice softened.
"Daniel, you've changed."
Daniel looked at the phone.
"I hope so."
When the call ended, he sat in silence.
Thomas had heard enough to understand.
"Someone you trusted?"
"Two people."
"That's painful."
Daniel nodded.
"More painful than I expected."
Thomas opened his book again, though he did not begin reading.
"Trust is expensive," he said. "But losing it doesn't mean you should stop giving it. It means you learn to be more careful about what people do with it."
Daniel looked toward the aisle.
A flight attendant was moving through the cabin, collecting empty cups.
The ordinary details of the journey seemed strangely unreal.
Outside, the clouds stretched endlessly toward the horizon.
Inside, strangers were living through their own private worries, unaware that the man in the dark suit was facing the possible collapse of his company and the destruction of his family life.