Sebastian POV
Sebastian's stomach is already twisting before he even enters the conference room.
He walks in at eight in the morning. The board is here. All six members sitting around the long table. His VP of operations. His distribution manager. His CFO. Everyone important. Everyone watching him with expressions he can't read.
Claire is at the front of the room. She stands next to a screen with files displayed. She's wearing a dark suit. Her hair is pulled back. Her glasses catch the light. She looks completely in control. She looks like she's about to destroy something.
She looks at him and for just a second, something flickers across her face. Recognition maybe. Or satisfaction. Or something he can't name.
"Mr. Walsh," she says, nodding slightly. "Thank you for being here. I have my preliminary findings on the operational inefficiencies I've discovered over the last two weeks."
She clicks to the first slide.
A supply chain diagram appears. Red lines showing where money is being wasted. Blue lines showing the correct flow. Immediately, the problems jump out. Inefficiencies everywhere. Costs that shouldn't exist. Processes that make no sense.
"Your supply chain is hemorrhaging money," Claire says flatly. "You're paying for expedited shipping on items that don't need it. You're storing inventory in warehouses that are too expensive. You're using vendors who charge double what their competitors charge. Basic mistakes. But they add up to approximately eight hundred thousand dollars annually in unnecessary expenses."
One of the board members whistles quietly. Sebastian feels his chest tighten.
Claire clicks to the next slide. A chart showing warehouse operations.
"Your distribution manager is overcharging for labor," she says, pointing at the data. "Specifically, he's billing the company for hours that his staff isn't actually working. Over six months, this amounts to approximately one hundred and twenty thousand dollars in fraudulent charges."
She pulls up an email. An email from his distribution manager to an outside company offering to sell them information about delivery routes. Confidential information. Information that competitors would pay for.
"He's also selling company information to your competitors," Claire says. "Information about your delivery schedules. Your client lists. Your operational processes. I have documentation of twelve separate transactions over the last eighteen months. Conservative estimate puts the damage to your competitive advantage at approximately two million dollars."
The CFO is now pale. The VP of operations is sweating.
Claire moves to the next slide without pausing.
"Your VP of operations has been skimming money from the operational budget," she says. "He approves invoices for services that were never rendered. He receives kickbacks from vendors. He's been doing this for approximately three years. Total theft: approximately four hundred and fifty thousand dollars."
She pulls up invoice after invoice. All traceable. All damning.
Sebastian can't speak. He can't move. He can't breathe properly. This is worse than he thought. Much worse. The theft isn't just happening at the board level. It's happening at every level. The entire company is rotting from the inside.
"These individuals," Claire says, "should be terminated immediately. Their activities should be reported to law enforcement. Their families should be prepared for potential criminal charges."
She clicks again.
Now the board level fraud appears. The discretionary fund allocations. The fake vendors. David Marchant's massive theft. Everything.
And then she clicks one more time.
Sebastian's own transactions appear on screen. His authorizations. His signatures. His participation in the fraud.
The room goes completely silent.
"Mr. Walsh," Claire says, turning to look directly at him. "Your company has been systematically destroyed from the inside. Your board members have been stealing. Your executives have been stealing. And you..." she pauses, letting the silence hang between them, "you authorized significant fraudulent transfers while knowing about the other crimes happening around you. You knew about the theft and you let it continue because some of it was benefiting you. How long has this been happening without your knowledge?"
The question hits like a weapon. Not because he doesn't know the answer. But because she knows he knows. She's asking him to admit something in front of everyone.
"I didn't authorize..." Sebastian starts but his voice breaks. He stops. He tries again. "I didn't know about most of this."
"No," Claire says. She's not angry. She's not vindictive. She's just stating facts. "But you knew about some of it. These transfers here." She points to the screen. "You signed off on these. You knew they were going to accounts that didn't match any company vendors. You knew they were fraudulent. What you didn't expect was someone to actually trace them."
One of the board members stands up. "This is insane. This is absolutely insane. Mr. Walsh, if this is true, we need to go to the authorities immediately. We need to protect this company."
"The authorities already know," Claire says calmly. "I've been documenting this for the FBI. I was instructed to present my findings to the board before they make arrests. That's what's happening right now."
Sebastian's world stops.
Arrests. FBI. His life is ending. Right here. Right now. In front of these people. Because of this woman who walks like she owns the room. This woman who somehow knows everything. This woman who reminds him of someone he destroyed and has spent four years trying to find.
He looks at her more carefully. Really looks at her. Behind the glasses. Past the styled hair. Under the professional exterior.
And something clicks.
The way she stands. The way she looks at problems. The way her eyes move when she's analyzing data. The intelligence behind everything she does.
"It's you," he whispers.
She doesn't flinch. She doesn't react. But something in her face changes. Just slightly. Just enough that he knows he's right.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she says, but her voice is different now. Softer. Like there's something underneath the professional consultant that's struggling to stay in character.
"You're her," Sebastian says, standing up. "You're Claire."
The entire board goes absolutely still.
"That's impossible," the CFO says. "Claire Matthews is..."
"Alive," Sebastian finishes. He's looking at her now. Really seeing her. "You're alive. You survived. You came back."
Claire doesn't deny it. She doesn't confirm it. She just looks at him with eyes that suddenly make sense. Eyes that have been watching him destroy himself. Eyes that have been waiting for this moment.
"I'm Ms. Peterson," she says. But they both know that's not true anymore.
The conference room door opens.
A woman appears. A woman in her thirties with dark hair. She looks between Claire and Sebastian with understanding. She nods slightly at Claire.
"It's time," the woman says. "The FBI is waiting downstairs."
Sebastian realizes what's happening. This wasn't just about exposing fraud. This was about destroying him. Specifically. Systematically. Using the truth as a weapon.
Claire did this.
His wife came back and destroyed everything.
And the worst part is, looking at her now, he understands why. He understands completely.