“You are useless!” Liam shouted. “Everything is falling apart! Holloway Global cut us off. If I don’t secure funding at tomorrow’s gala, we’re dead. And I need the key to that wooden box, Clara. Where is it?”

“Why do you need it so badly?” Clara asked, pushing him exactly as we’d rehearsed. “I saw a document with the name Blue Lantern. I didn’t sign that, Liam. You forged my signature, didn’t you?”

The silence was heavy enough to choke on. Then Liam let out a dark, cruel laugh.

“So you finally opened your eyes. Yes, Clara, I signed your name. I moved the defective inventory liabilities to Blue Lantern. And you know what? No one will believe you. You’re the sole guarantor. If this ship goes down, I’m putting you on it. So give me the damn key before I make things very ugly for you.”

Got him.

“I don’t have it,” Clara whispered. “I threw it in the river.”