Chapter 3 - The File Called “Naomi Stability”Elise found the next file.
She had been searching through vendor attachments when she stopped suddenly.
“Naomi.”
“What?”
“There’s a password-protected document attached to one Armitage invoice.”
Jasper’s face changed.
Naomi noticed.
“What’s it called?”
Elise looked at the screen.
“Naomi Stability.”
The office went silent.
Naomi slowly turned toward Jasper.
“Do you know what that is?”
“No.”
Too fast.
Daniel said:
“We can preserve it and have forensics open it.”
Jasper stepped forward.
“That could contain private medical information.”
Naomi stared.
“How would you know?”
He froze.
He had just made a mistake.
Naomi’s voice dropped.
“You said you didn’t know what it was.”
“I guessed.”
“You guessed it contains medical information?”
“It says stability.”
“That could mean financial stability.”
Jasper rubbed his face.
“This is absurd.”
Elise did not touch the file further.
Daniel instructed her to copy the server path and let outside forensic counsel handle it.
Within two hours, Naomi’s office had transformed.
Independent attorneys arrived.
A cybersecurity consultant began imaging devices.
Grant preserved banking data.
Melissa contacted the audit committee.
Naomi called Charles.
He answered warmly.
“Naomi, darling.”
Her stomach turned.
“Are you trustee of the Hawthorne Family Preservation Trust?”
Silence.
Then:
“Who told you?”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“Yes.”
“Why is that trust receiving money from my company?”
“Strategic consulting.”
“What consulting?”
“Naomi, you sound upset.”
“I am.”
“Then we should speak when you’re calmer.”
She almost laughed.
There it was.
Calmer.
The perfect way to turn a question into a symptom.
“Did you create Armitage?”
“Technically, no.”
“Who did?”
“A service company.”
“For you?”
“For planning purposes.”
“What planning?”
“Continuity.”
Naomi looked toward Jasper.
He stared at the floor.
“What does continuity mean?”
Charles sighed.
“You’ve had a difficult few years.”
“My mother died.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“You threw yourself into work.”
“My company grew.”
“You became increasingly distrustful.”
Naomi’s grip tightened around the phone.
“Of whom?”
“The board.”
“Charles, the board rejected my cybersecurity budget and then approved it six months later after we were attacked.”
“That isn’t the point.”
“What is?”
“You’ve been under pressure.”
Naomi stopped.
The language sounded rehearsed.
Exactly like something in the file named Naomi Stability.
She said:
“Did you commission a report about my mental health?”
Charles went silent.
Jasper looked up.
That silence was enough.
Naomi’s voice became colder.
“Answer.”
“We commissioned an executive resilience assessment.”
“Without telling me.”
“It wasn’t clinical.”
“Then why did Jasper say it contains medical information?”
On the other end, silence.
Naomi looked at her husband.
Charles asked:
“Is Jasper there?”
“Yes.”
“Put me on speaker.”
“You already are.”
Grant, Melissa, Daniel, Elise, and two outside attorneys listened.
Charles breathed.
“This should not be handled like a public spectacle.”
Naomi stared at the phone.
“Then stop creating secret files about me.”
“It was protection.”
“For whom?”
“The company.”
Naomi closed her eyes.
Again.
Protection.
Continuity.
Stability.
Beautiful words wrapped around secret decisions.
Forensic counsel entered.
“We opened the file.”
Naomi’s heart accelerated.
“What’s inside?”
The attorney hesitated.
“Compiled materials.”
“What kind?”
“Emails. Audio clips. calendar records. notes regarding emotional incidents.”
Naomi felt violated.
“What emotional incidents?”
The attorney looked at the first page.
“Crying during meetings after your mother’s death.”
Naomi stared.
“You’re kidding.”
“No.”
“Who wrote that?”
“Several observations are attributed to Jasper.”
Naomi turned toward him.
He looked sick.
Another item:
“CEO reportedly experiences periods of extreme agitation when challenged.”
Naomi laughed in disbelief.
“That refers to what?”
Melissa leaned forward.
“I remember one argument they might mean.”
“When?”
“The Hartford property.”
Naomi remembered.
A contractor had concealed safety violations.
She had shouted after learning employees were endangered.
Now anger about worker safety had become evidence of instability.
The attorney continued.
“Another note refers to insomnia.”
Naomi looked at Jasper.
“You told Charles I wasn’t sleeping?”
“I was worried.”
“You told him about our bedroom conversations.”
“I was worried about you.”
“Did you tell him I saw a therapist after Mom died?”
Jasper looked away.
Naomi’s chest tightened.
“You did.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“How was it?”
“I asked him whether grief could affect decision-making.”
“Charles isn’t a doctor.”
“He knows people.”
Naomi laughed bitterly.
The attorney opened a later page.
“This includes a preliminary recommendation.”
“For what?”
“Temporary medical leave if a triggering event occurs.”
Naomi’s face went cold.
“What triggering event?”
“Allegation of fiduciary misconduct.”
Grant looked up.
The unexplained Armitage payments.
The signatures.
The guarantees they had not yet found.
If someone exposed payments carrying Naomi’s signature, she could be accused of misconduct.
Then the stability file could be used to argue she was too emotionally compromised to respond.
Daniel said quietly:
“This looks coordinated.”
Jasper shook his head.
“No.”
Naomi turned.
“No?”
“It was contingency planning.”
“For removing me.”
“For protecting the business if something happened.”
“Something didn’t happen.”
Jasper said nothing.
Naomi’s phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
She opened it.
One sentence.
IF YOU FOUND THE STABILITY FILE, ASK ELISE WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR LAST ASSISTANT.
Naomi looked up.
Elise saw her expression.
“What?”
Naomi showed her.
Elise’s face changed.
“My last assistant?”
Naomi thought of Brooke Fallon.
Three years earlier.
Efficient.
Quiet.
Gone suddenly after an internal complaint.
Naomi had been told Brooke resigned after “crossing personal boundaries with Jasper.”
She slowly looked at her husband.
“What did Brooke do?”
May you like
Jasper’s face went pale.
And Naomi realized Elise might not be the first woman he had needed to discredit.
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