Chapter 16 - The Airport Meeting
Margaret insisted she had no arrangement with Peggy.
Airport footage disagreed.
Peggy waited near an international check-in counter.
She carried two passports.
One hers.
One issued under the name Margaret Voss.
Claire stared at the image.
“She was going to travel as Mom?”
Ortiz nodded.
“Or create the appearance your mother fled.”
Margaret went pale.
Peggy had built an escape plan that placed blame directly on her longtime rival.
Victor’s former lover.
Claire’s mother.
The woman whose signatures already appeared throughout the fraud.
Sophie almost admired the cruelty.
“She was going to leave Mom holding everything.”
Margaret whispered, “Victor always underestimated her.”
Police arrested Peggy for document fraud and obstruction while prosecutors assembled broader charges.
She refused to speak.
Then she asked for one person.
Claire.
Ortiz advised against it.
Claire went anyway.
The interview room felt too small.
Peggy looked older than Claire remembered.
But her eyes were exactly the same.
Calm.
Observant.
“Hello, Claire.”
“Why me?”
“Because you’re the only one who still thinks this is about money.”
“What is it about?”
“Family.”
Claire almost laughed.
“You destroyed mine.”
“No. Your family destroyed itself.”
“Convenient.”
Peggy leaned forward.
“Do you know why Margaret hated Sophie?”
Claire stiffened.
“She didn’t.”
Peggy smiled.
“You still don’t know.”
Claire refused the bait.
“If you have something to say, say it.”
“Margaret believed Sophie wasn’t Peter’s child.”
Claire stared.
There it was.
A DNA-style twist.
But Claire remembered her own rules now.
Evidence first.
“Based on what?”
“Victor told her.”
“Was it true?”
Peggy shrugged.
“I never cared.”
Claire saw the tactic clearly.
“You want me to chase another family mystery.”
“No.”
“You want me distracted.”
Peggy smiled.
“You are smarter than your mother.”
Claire stood.
Peggy called after her.
“Ask Margaret why she chose you.”
Claire stopped.
“Chose me for what?”
“To keep.”
Claire left without answering.
She told Sophie everything immediately.
Sophie went pale but did not collapse.
“No more secrets,” Claire said.
Sophie nodded.
“If Mom believed it, that could explain some things.”
“It doesn’t justify them.”
“No.”
They confronted Margaret.
Margaret did not deny hearing the accusation.
“Victor told me Peter had an affair and Sophie might not be his.”
Sophie’s voice shook.
“And you believed him?”
“I was angry.”
“Did Dad deny it?”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever test it?”
“No.”
Sophie stared.
“So you destroyed my childhood over a rumor.”
Margaret began crying.
“I was cruel to you.”
“Yes.”
“I know.”
“No, I don’t think you do.”
Sophie stood.
“Dad treated me as his daughter every day of his life. That is the answer.”
Claire watched her sister and felt pride.
No test needed.
No new twist required.
They would not let another allegation control them.
Peggy’s strategy failed.
But her arrest unlocked evidence.
Her laptop contained draft documents.
False passports.
Transfer instructions.
And a folder labeled ENDGAME.
Inside was a plan to shift $11 million into offshore accounts, blame Margaret for the entire fraud, destroy Hawthorne House, and negotiate immunity by testifying against Victor.
Peggy had planned every move.
Including the porch fire.
Ethan had carried it out.
A message read:
Burn exterior only. Frighten them. Do not destroy building until papers are confirmed inside.
Another message targeted Emma.
Photograph child. No contact. Fear works better when nothing happens.
Claire felt physically ill.
But now prosecutors had proof.
Ethan was arrested at a motel outside Philadelphia.
Victor surrendered the next morning after his attorney negotiated terms.
The criminal structure began collapsing.
Yet one question remained.
Who legally owned the remaining assets?
The answer depended on the trust.
And the trust depended on proving Charles’s amendment genuine.
Victor’s lawyers challenged it.
Forgery, they claimed.
A probate hearing was scheduled.
Five days.
Claire sat with Sophie in the blue room.
“This started with Emma seeing June in that window.”
Sophie smiled faintly.
“June was supposed to stay hidden.”
“She’s bad at it.”
“She gets that from me.”
They laughed.
For the first time, Hawthorne House did not feel haunted.
Then Daniel entered holding a document.
“I found something.”
Claire took it.
A handwritten note from Charles Mercer.
Dated June 13, 2008.
Tomorrow Peter will take Sophie away. Claire must remain because Margaret will never allow both girls to leave. One day they will need each other to recover what belongs to them.
Claire stared.
Charles had known.
Their separation had not been random.
It had been a desperate strategy.
Sophie whispered, “He split us to save us.”
May you like
Claire looked at her.
“And it took eighteen years to put us back together.”
