Chương 6
Claire stared at her.
“The card is in the bouquet?”
“It was.”
Claire stood so quickly the robe slipped from one shoulder.
“Where is the bouquet?”
“Missing,” Ethan said.
Claire’s fear returned in full.
“Malcolm has it.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do. He knew I removed the card. He asked for it before the ceremony. I told him I’d flushed it.”
“Why did you remove it?”
“So he couldn’t track the phone. Or wipe it. I don’t know what he can do. I don’t know what any of you can do.”
“Why record him?”
Her answer took too long.
“Insurance.”
“For the two million?”
“For Mason. For me. For you.”
Ethan laughed once, without humor. “You recorded your conspiracy to protect me?”
“I recorded him because I knew he would blame me.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“No.”
“Did you plan to warn me before I signed?”
Claire’s lips parted.
Silence settled between them.
Ethan nodded.
“That’s the answer.”
“I had not decided.”
“The ceremony had started.”
“I know.”
“You were walking toward me.”
“I know.”
“With the phone hidden in your flowers.”
“I know.”
“Say something else.”
She looked at him helplessly.
He hated that part of himself still recognized the way she blinked when she was trying not to cry. He hated that his body cataloged her distress before his mind could reject it. Two years of love had built habits that betrayal could not dismantle in an evening.
Claire wiped beneath one eye with the side of her finger.
“I loved you,” she said.
Ethan looked at the carpet.
Past tense could be an accident. It could also be the only honest word she had offered.
Lena rose. “This conversation is over for tonight.”
Claire looked at Ethan. “There are recordings of Malcolm and Conrad. There are account numbers. There’s a file in the phone’s notes with passwords.”
“Passwords to what?”
“The company my mother owns. The account where Malcolm sent the first payment.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand.”
“Your mother knows about that.”
“She thinks it came from a consulting contract.”
“What consulting?”
“Reputation management.”
Ben looked at the ceiling.
Claire’s voice sharpened. “My mother lies to herself because the alternative would require returning money she already spent.”
Ethan looked at her again.
There was the Claire he knew: precise in cruelty when ashamed, hardest on the person whose weakness resembled her own.
“Leave,” he said.
She did not move.
“I’ll give a statement. I’ll turn over everything.”
“Leave.”
“Ethan—”
“I cannot hear your voice anymore tonight.”
Claire flinched.
She gathered the robe around herself and walked to the door. Before Lena opened it, Claire turned to Mara.
“You should not go home alone.”
Mara’s face tightened. “Is that a threat?”
“No. It’s the first useful thing I’ve said.”
Elaine was waiting in the hall. She wrapped an arm around Claire and glared through the doorway at Ethan.
Malcolm stood farther back beside Conrad. He was speaking into his phone, calm and composed, while staff carried floral arrangements past him.
Claire looked at her mother.
“Don’t take anything from him,” she said.
Elaine followed her gaze toward Malcolm, then pulled her daughter away.
Malcolm ended his call and approached the conference room.
Lena stepped into the doorway.
“You may communicate through counsel.”
“My son is inside.”
“Your son has counsel.”
Malcolm looked past her at Ethan. “You are allowing strangers to turn a family matter into an investigation.”
Ethan stayed beside the table.
“You put control of my mother’s trust into my wedding documents.”
“You don’t know what those provisions mean.”
“I know Claire says you paid her.”
“Claire is trying to save herself.”
“That doesn’t make her wrong.”
Malcolm’s gaze shifted toward the signal-blocking pouch.
“Has she told you about the theft?”
“Mason’s invoices?”
“No. Her theft.”
Claire had already disappeared around the corner.
Ethan said nothing.
Malcolm lowered his voice. “The recordings on that phone are selectively edited. Claire demanded money from me. When I refused, she threatened to manipulate you into removing me from the company. I created a structure to limit the damage she could do.”
“With forged consent?”
“You signed every page.”
“I signed what Conrad described as administrative documents.”
Conrad looked away.
Malcolm’s face remained controlled. “That is an issue between you and your attention span.”
Ben moved before Ethan could. He stepped into the hall, stopping within a foot of Malcolm.
“You should go.”
Malcolm looked at him as if noticing furniture in an inconvenient place.
“Benjamin, this does not concern you.”
“It concerns everyone who watched you bring transfer papers to a wedding.”
“Be careful repeating accusations you do not understand.”
Ben smiled without warmth. “That sounded expensive. Should I get my own lawyer?”
Lena touched Ben’s arm and guided him backward.
Malcolm adjusted his cuff.
“Ethan, come home. We will review the documents with independent counsel tomorrow. Nothing has transferred. Nothing has been lost.”
“My wedding.”
Malcolm paused.
“That was already compromised.”
“You mean before Mara found the phone.”
“I mean before Claire accepted your proposal.”
Ethan felt the old reflex to believe him. Malcolm had always spoken as though knowledge itself was a form of ownership. He rarely lied in simple sentences. He built structures around facts until the truth could no longer move without his permission.
“Did you give Claire the burner phone?” Ethan asked.
Malcolm glanced at Conrad.
That was enough.
“Go,” Ethan said.
Malcolm’s expression hardened. “If you turn this into a public fight, the trust will not be the only thing damaged.”
“Is that advice?”
“It is the last kindness I am likely to offer tonight.”
He left with Conrad and the driver.
Lena waited until their footsteps faded.
“Do you have somewhere safe to stay that your father does not own, manage, finance, monitor, or employ?”
May you like
Ethan considered the question.
His townhouse had been purchased through a family partnership. His hotel suite had been booked by Malcolm’s assistant. The lake house belonged to Cole Harbor. Even the car waiting outside was leased through the company.
