Chapter 18 - No More PretendingEthan returned to the mansion that night for one reason.
The pool.
He stood behind the glass door where he had first heard Claire.
Police tape crossed the entrance to the lower service corridor.
Wedding flowers had begun to wilt in the October air.
The chairs remained lined up before an altar that would never be used.
Claire arrived under supervision to identify additional documents.
She saw Ethan through the glass.
For a while neither moved.
Then Ethan opened the door.
“Come outside.”
Claire followed him toward the pool.
She stopped where she'd stood during the call.
Ethan remained several feet away.
“Who were you talking to?”
Claire didn't pretend not to understand.
“Martin.”
“All three lines?”
“Yes.”
“When you said we'd be on our knees.”
“Yes.”
“When you said Lily was in the palm of your hand.”
Claire looked down.
“Yes.”
“When you said we'd die without your antidote.”
“Yes.”
She looked up sharply.
Ethan watched realization cross her face.
“You heard me.”
“Every word.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“When?”
“You know when.”
“The pool.”
“Yes.”
“You knew before you came outside.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled.
“And you put your arm around me.”
“Yes.”
“You told me to go inside.”
“Yes.”
Claire stepped backward.
The full horror of the deception seemed to hit her.
“You knew.”
Ethan's voice hardened.
“And you relaxed because you thought I didn't.”
Claire covered her mouth.
“You called someone afterward.”
He stared.
“How do you know?”
“I saw you go toward the east hall.”
“Who did I call?”
“I don't know.”
Ethan almost smiled.
“Good.”
Claire looked at him.
“Who?”
“Nora.”
She blinked.
“Beck.”
“Yes.”
Claire laughed faintly through tears.
“My father would appreciate that.”
“I don't care.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“You want to know the hardest part?”
Claire didn't answer.
“I kept wondering whether there was a version of this where I misunderstood you.”
“There isn't.”
“I know.”
“I wanted revenge.”
“I know.”
“I wanted your family frightened.”
“I know.”
“I helped create the exposure plan.”
“I know.”
“I never intended Lily to—”
“Stop.”
Claire fell silent.
“You don't get points for not intending the predictable consequence of poisoning a family.”
The word made her flinch.
“Call it whatever you need to call it.”
“I call it what it was.”
“Yes.”
They stood beside the turquoise water.
Claire wiped her face.
“I used to imagine your father standing here.”
“Why?”
“Because when I came seven years ago, your mother made me wait near the gate. I could see the pool through the trees.”
Ethan said nothing.
“My father was sick. Broke. Nobody would hire him. I looked at this house and thought Richard Mercer had destroyed us and never lost a night's sleep.”
“He did lose sleep.”
“That doesn't matter.”
“No.”
Claire looked at him.
“I wanted someone in this family to feel powerless.”
“You chose my daughter.”
“I know.”
Ethan's voice cracked.
“She trusted you.”
Claire began crying again.
“I know.”
“She asked me if she was bad.”
“Oh God.”
“No. You don't get to hide from that.”
“I am not hiding.”
“You hid for eighteen months.”
Claire looked straight at him.
Then something in her expression changed.
“Then don't hide either.”
Ethan stared.
“From what?”
“Your father's part.”
“I haven't.”
“Yes, you have.”
“He allowed Samuel to be framed.”
“And you still keep separating that from Martin as though one makes the other smaller.”
Ethan felt anger.
“My father is dead.”
“My father is too.”
“You think that excuses you?”
“No.”
“Then what do you want?”
“The truth to cost your family something too.”
Ethan stared.
For the first time, Claire had said what she truly wanted without manipulation.
Not the company.
Not money.
Cost.
He looked at the mansion.
The Mercer name was everywhere.
Hospitals.
Research grants.
Buildings.
If Samuel's records became public, the company would suffer.
Victims might sue.
Investigations would reopen.
His father would become something other than the legend Ethan had inherited.
“You're right,” Ethan said.
Claire blinked.
He continued.
“The truth should cost us.”
She stared.
“But not Lily.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“No.”
“Not my mother.”
“No.”
“Not employees who had nothing to do with it.”
“No.”
“Tomorrow I'm releasing the Halcyon files.”
Claire looked stunned.
“All of them?”
“To independent counsel, regulators and the board.”
“Your stock could collapse.”
“Maybe.”
“You could lose the company.”
“Maybe.”
“Your father spent his life protecting it.”
Ethan looked directly at her.
“My father is not making decisions anymore.”
For the first time since everything began, Claire looked at him with something other than guilt or fear.
Respect.
It made Ethan angry.
“Don't.”
“What?”
“Look at me like that.”
“Sorry.”
Nora entered from the terrace.
She was carrying a document case.
“Romantic setting.”
Claire almost laughed.
Ethan didn't.
“What did you find?”
Nora placed the case on a table.
“Claire's safe-deposit records.”
Claire straightened.
“You opened it?”
“With consent and police.”
“And?”
“Martin's messages are there.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“Enough?”
“Enough to prove he coordinated Cedar Vale.”
Claire exhaled.
Nora continued.
“But there's something you both need to see.”
She removed a photograph.
A scanned contract page.
Ethan's handwritten signature appeared at the bottom.
It looked perfect.
Claire whispered, “That's not his.”
Ethan stared.
“No.”
Nora shook her head.
“That's the problem.”
She placed another sheet beside it.
An authentic document Ethan had signed three years earlier.
The signatures were identical.
Not similar.
Identical.
Pixel for pixel.
A copied image.
Forgery.
Ethan almost relaxed.
Then Nora turned over the fraudulent page.
At the top was an internal document-control number.
Ethan recognized the format.
“That number only exists inside our legal archive.”
Nora nodded.
“Exactly.”
“Martin has archive access.”
“So does one other executive.”
Ethan knew before she said it.
May you like
Nora looked toward the house.
“Noah.”
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