Chapter 19 - Claire Without the Mask
Claire asked to see Daniel.
He refused twice.
The third request came through her attorney with one condition:
She wanted to apologize to Noah.
Daniel spoke with Dr. Shah.
Then with Noah.
“No,” Noah said.
Daniel felt relief.
“Okay.”
“That’s all?”
“That’s all.”
“I don’t have to?”
“No.”
Noah went back to coloring.
Daniel almost cried from the simplicity of it.
No child should have to perform forgiveness for an adult.
Daniel agreed to meet Claire alone in a lawyer’s office instead.
She looked thinner.
“You asked Noah?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He doesn’t want to see you.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Okay.”
Daniel waited.
She whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“All of it.”
“That phrase is too easy.”
Claire nodded.
“I told him his mother died because of him.”
“Yes.”
“I locked the door.”
“Yes.”
“I deleted Elena’s messages.”
“Yes.”
“I helped Ethan manipulate you.”
“Yes.”
“I took money.”
“Yes.”
She looked at him.
“I did love you.”
Daniel felt tired.
“Maybe.”
“You don’t believe me.”
“I believe people are capable of contradictory things.”
Claire gave a broken smile.
“That sounds like something Rachel would say.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“You didn’t know her.”
“No.”
“Then don’t use her.”
Claire lowered her gaze.
After a moment she said:
“I hated her.”
Daniel stared.
“A dead woman?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she was everywhere.”
Claire’s voice cracked.
“In the trust. In the company. In Noah. In your mother’s stories. In the piano. In the way you stopped talking when someone said her name.”
Daniel said nothing.
“I thought if I could make Rachel smaller, I could become real.”
“So you made Noah ashamed of her.”
Claire began crying.
“I know.”
“You told a child his mother died because of him because you were jealous of a dead woman.”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked away.
Claire wiped her face.
“Ethan knew.”
“Of course he did.”
“He encouraged it.”
“That doesn’t excuse you.”
“I know.”
“He knew my grief was a weakness.”
“He called it ‘the Rachel problem.’”
Daniel’s jaw clenched.
Claire continued.
“He said if you ever really started talking about her again, you would look at her legal work. The trust. The old audit.”
“So he wanted Noah silent.”
“Yes.”
“And you helped him.”
“Yes.”
Daniel stood.
Claire looked up.
“There’s more.”
He remained standing.
She took a breath.
“Ethan asked me to move money after the investigation started.”
“When?”
“The morning after the party.”
“How much?”
“Two million.”
“To where?”
“An account in the Cayman Islands.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I realized he was preparing to make me the entire story.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“And then morality arrived.”
“No.”
Claire met his eyes.
“Fear did.”
At least that was honest.
She handed him a piece of paper.
An account number.
A list of entities.
“Give this to Marcus.”
Daniel took it.
Claire whispered:
“I know Noah may never forgive me.”
Daniel replied:
“That is not a debt he owes you.”
She flinched.
He walked toward the door.
“Daniel.”
He stopped.
“Did Rachel really hold him?”
Daniel looked back.
“What?”
“Noah. After he was born.”
“Yes.”
Claire cried harder.
“What did she say?”
Daniel considered refusing.
Then he realized Rachel’s words did not belong to Claire.
They belonged to Noah.
So he said only:
May you like
“She loved him.”
And left.
