Chapter 10 - The Recording He Feared
Dakota took out her black phone.
Adam’s face changed instantly.
“Do not play that here.”
She did not press the button.
She simply placed the phone beside the two boarding passes.
“You recognize the timeline?”
His silence answered her.
Three nights earlier, Adam had taken a call in their home office.
He believed Dakota was asleep.
She had stood outside the partially open door after hearing her own name.
Adam’s voice was low and controlled.
“If Trinity signs in Paris, the account becomes hers on paper.”
Melissa asked, “What if she finds out?”
“She won’t. She thinks we’re buying a home.”
“And Dakota?”
“I’ll file for divorce after the audit. Everyone will believe she reported me because she was bitter.”
“What if she has copies?”
Adam laughed softly.
“Dakota still thinks this is about an affair.”
Dakota had recorded eleven minutes.
Enough to reveal the Paris plan.
Enough to show Adam understood every forged invoice.
Enough to prove Melissa was his partner, not his boss.
She had sent an encrypted copy to the investigator before boarding.
Adam stared at the phone.
“You recorded a private marital conversation.”
“You were discussing financial crimes.”
“You don’t know what you heard.”
“I heard you say Trinity’s name.”
Trinity looked physically ill.
“I heard you plan to make her responsible if the account was discovered.”
Adam turned toward her.
“I was protecting the baby.”
“From what?”
“From financial uncertainty.”
“You were protecting yourself.”
The nearby passengers remained silent, but every face was turned toward them.
Adam lowered his voice to a whisper.
“Dakota, we can fix our marriage.”
She looked at him as though the words belonged to another language.
May you like
“Our marriage ended before I poured the champagne.”
👉 Yet Dakota had not revealed the most painful part of the recording—the reason Adam believed she would never expose him.
