To the Sterling family, I was just Claire—the tedious, number-crunching accountant Daniel had settled for before he figured out how to seduce women with real trust funds.

They could never comprehend why ultra-high-net-worth clients trusted me with their darkest secrets, or why federal judges had called me as an expert witness in embezzlement trials.

They thought I was a bookkeeper. I was a forensic auditor specializing in hidden assets and corporate fraud.

I understood the physics of deception. I knew how lies travel. They flow through redacted bank statements. They hide behind offshore shell corporations.

They masquerade as legitimate expenses in family philanthropic foundations. And most of all, they’re perpetrated by arrogant men who believe their charm can somehow erase digital receipts.

As I watched Daniel drive away in the car I paid the lease on, a dangerous smile touched my lips. The tears were gone. It was time to go to work.