Chapter 6 - The Race Against Time
"She left for Seattle an hour ago," Helen said, standing up from the sofa. "She said she had to finalize the last of the legal trust paperwork and clean out her remaining things from the lake house before you returned tonight."
Daniel didn't wait to hear another word. He turned on his heel and bolted out of the sunroom, racing down the hallway and bursting through the front door into the pouring rain.
His mind was a hurricane of regret, terror, and desperate determination.
He threw himself into his SUV, slammed the door, and fired up the engine. The digital dashboard clock flashed glowing red numbers: 4:15 PM.
He threw the car into reverse, tires spitting gravel onto the suburban street, before slamming it into drive and hurtling back toward Interstate 5. The Seattle-bound traffic was already thickening with evening commuters, a snaking river of red tail lights disappearing into the misty gray horizon.
Daniel pressed his foot down on the accelerator, weaving his SUV between lanes with a reckless urgency he hadn't felt since his twenties.
His phone buzzed repeatedly in the console cup holder. He glanced down. It was Megan, his executive assistant. He swiped to decline the call, but it immediately rang again. Annoyed, he hit speakerphone.
"Mr. Mercer! Where are you?" Megan’s voice shouted over the static of the highway and the roar of the rain. "The Denver acquisition call started ten minutes ago! The board members are furious, and the lead investors are threatening to—"
"Megan," Daniel interrupted, his voice cutting through her panic with absolute, chilling finality. "Listen to me very carefully."
There was a pause on the other end. "Sir?"
"Cancel the Denver acquisition. Cancel every meeting for the rest of the week, the rest of the month, the rest of the year if you have to."
"Mr. Mercer, you can't just—this is a thirty-million-dollar deal! You’ve been working on this for nine months!"
"I don't care," Daniel said, his eyes locked on the wet asphalt ahead as he dangerously bypassed a slow-moving semi-truck. "Northstar can burn to the ground for all I care. I am stepping down as CEO effective immediately. Handle the transition."
"Stepping down?!" Megan shrieked. "Daniel, are you out of your mind? What could possibly be more important than your company?"
"My wife," Daniel said.
And he hung up.
The rain intensified, pelting the windshield in sheets that the wipers could barely clear. The speedometer hovered dangerously near eighty miles per hour as he sped past Tacoma and headed north toward Lake Washington.
Every mile stretched like an eternity. Memories flashed through his mind like a fast-forward reel of a life he had sleepwalked through: Claire sitting on the kitchen counter laughing as he burned garlic; Claire handing him a cup of coffee during the early warehouse nights; Claire standing silently by the window of their luxury lake house, watching him work on his laptop until three in the morning, her eyes hollow with an exhaustion he had been too blind to notice.
He had measured his life in revenue milestones, stock options, and quarterly growth, while Claire had measured hers in hospital bills, silent tears, and desperate acts of preservation.
As he crossed the floating bridge over Lake Washington, the majestic glass-and-stone house loomed into view through the rain and fog.
May you like
The driveway was empty.
Daniel slammed on his brakes, sliding slightly on the wet pavement before parking haphazardly across the stone entryway. He cut the engine, burst out of the car without an umbrella, and sprinted toward the front double doors.
