Then Daniel became ambitious.
Too ambitious.
He leased an office twice the size he needed.
Hired executives before the revenue justified them.
Bought a new Mercedes because, according to him, “Clients need to see success.”
I warned him.
“You’re growing faster than your contracts.”
“That’s how businesses work.”
“Not healthy ones.”
He hated when I said things like that.
“You think because you wear a uniform, you’re an expert on everything.”
“No. I’m an expert on watching people confuse confidence with planning.”
That argument lasted two days.
By the time I became pregnant, Lawson Strategic Solutions was under serious financial pressure.
Daniel never admitted it.
He simply changed.
He stopped touching my stomach when the baby kicked.
Stopped coming to appointments.
Stopped asking what the doctor said.
Then came the late nights.
The locked phone.
The sudden obsession with passwords.
And a woman named Lauren Cross.
