No Longer Anyone’s Accessory Chapter 10
Day fifteen in London.
The situation in California kept deteriorating.
Nadia sent over an audio recording.
“Listen to this first.”
I pressed play. A woman’s voice, a delicate Southern California accent.
“So you’re telling me Corinne really just left like that? Just left you here all alone to suffer? How about I come over this weekend and cook you something.”
A man’s voice. Trevor.
“Kiara. Thanks. This stretch has been so damn hard. I’m barely holding it together.”
“Honestly though, she’s way out of line. She had it so good with you, and she does this? It’s literally insane.”
“Sigh, you know how women are these days. They make a little money of their own and suddenly figure they don’t need a family anymore.”
“Trevor, don’t be sad. You’re such a catch. There are hundreds of great girls in Silicon Valley lining up for you, easy.”
The recording cut off.
Nadia’s message came right after.
“Kiara Delacroix. UI designer at his company. She’s been circling him for a while. This was recorded at a coffee shop in Palo Alto. A guy at the next table recognized Trevor. Turns out he’s my cousin’s roommate.”
I stared at the name on the screen.
Kiara Delacroix.
I knew her. At last year’s company holiday party, Trevor brought me as his guest. Kiara wore a deep-V red dress and floated past our table with a glass of champagne three separate times. I’d caught the way Trevor looked at her back then. I was just still lying to myself at that point.
The audio file was saved. Dropped into Project Phoenix.
Then I emailed Corbin.
“Kiara Delacroix. Trevor’s colleague. Female. Need a deep dive into any financial transactions between them.”
Corbin replied in seconds. “Already on it.”
That afternoon. The lab.
The fourth round of XR-7 data came in.
Dr. Ashcombe walked in holding the results report, his face uncharacteristically moved.
“Corinne. Come here.”
He spread the report across the lab bench, his finger landing on a specific set of key figures. I read that data set three times over. Dr. Ashcombe stood in front of the bench for a full minute without a word. Then he turned to Imogen and said:
“Go get someone from legal. Now.”
