Chương 5
She put the food on the kitchen counter.
Then she hugged Claire.
Claire lasted three seconds.
Her face collapsed against Nora’s shoulder.
No dramatic sob arrived. Her body simply lost its organization.
Nora held her.
Claire said, “I hate him.”
“I know.”
“I still love him.”
“I know.”
“I hate that too.”
“That one makes sense.”
Claire pulled away and wiped beneath her eyes.
“Please don’t be reasonable.”
“I can be unreasonable.”
“Try.”
Nora considered.
“We could fill the house with goats before they move out.”
Claire laughed through the tears.
“That’s terrible.”
“You asked.”
“Where would we get goats?”
“I don’t know. Rhode Island?”
They ate noodles at the small kitchen table.
Claire managed six bites before pushing the carton away.
Nora did not comment.
At midnight, Claire finally watched the video.
She regretted it immediately.
The phone recording began two seconds before Ethan touched her hand. The image shook as whoever was recording adjusted position. Claire watched herself smiling at someone outside the frame. Ethan turned toward her. His expression was calm.
He had planned it.
That knowledge hurt more than the ring.
There had been no impulsive anger. No fight. No moment in which cruelty accidentally outran judgment.
He had rehearsed her pain.
The ring came off.
Clink.
Even through a phone speaker, the sound was vicious.
Then Ethan’s voice.
Keep smiling, Claire. My real fiancée arrives in ten minutes.
Claire stopped the video.
Nora reached for the phone.
Claire held it tighter.
“No.”
“You don’t have to watch the rest.”
“I do.”
“Why?”
Claire did not know.
Perhaps because the woman on the screen looked like someone else. Someone elegant and contained and much less wounded than Claire felt.
She pressed play.
Does she know who owns this house?
Claire heard her own voice and barely recognized it.
Then Margaret.
Don’t embarrass yourself on the way out.
The camera shifted toward the guests as Claire walked away.
Their expressions mattered.
Not one person smiled.
Someone whispered, “Jesus.”
Someone else said, “That was disgusting.”
Claire stopped the video.
Nora took the phone gently this time.
“Enough.”
Claire looked at her empty hand.
“Did I know?”
Nora frowned.
“Know what?”
“That he could do that.”
“No.”
“There had to be something.”
“There are always things afterward.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means after somebody hurts you, every annoying habit becomes evidence you should have predicted murder.”
Claire gave her a tired look.
“That’s dramatic.”
“You own an apartment with a view of Boston Harbor that you forget exists. You don’t get to criticize dramatic.”
Claire leaned back.
The refrigerator hummed.
Somewhere above them, a child ran across a floor and an adult called for him to stop.
Ordinary life.
Claire listened until the footsteps ceased.
“I hid things too,” she said.
Nora looked at her.
“The house.”
“You didn’t hide an affair.”
“No.”
“You didn’t publicly humiliate him.”
“No.”
“You did, however, avoid telling your fiancé that his childhood home was held by your company.”
Claire folded a paper napkin into smaller squares.
“I was going to tell him.”
“When?”
“After the wedding.”
Nora stared at her.
Claire looked down.
“Okay.”
“That was a bad plan.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Claire kept folding.
“Because after my father died, everyone I dated knew what I inherited before they knew me. One man asked me about our family office on our second date.”
“So?”
“So Ethan didn’t.”
Nora’s expression softened slightly.
“He thought you worked in real estate.”
“I do.”
“He thought you were successful.”
“I am.”
“He did not know exactly how successful.”
“No.”
“And you liked that.”
“Yes.”
Nora waited.
Claire unfolded the napkin again.
“I wanted one thing in my life that wasn’t a transaction.”
Nora looked at her for a long moment.
Then she said, “And you picked a Sterling.”
Claire groaned.
“I said I needed comfort.”
“That was comfort.”
“No, that was accurate.”
“Sometimes they overlap.”
At seven the next morning, Claire woke on the sofa with a blanket over her and Nora asleep in the bedroom.
Her phone displayed ninety-six unread messages.
She turned it over.
For twenty minutes she did nothing.
She made coffee. Burned the first piece of toast. Ate the second standing beside the sink. Opened a window because the apartment smelled faintly stale.
Only then did she check her phone.
The video had escaped the private messages.
It was online.
Not everywhere, but enough.
The captions made her sick.
HEIR DUMPS FIANCÉE AT SOCIETY PARTY—HER RESPONSE IS WILD.
BOSTON BREAKUP FROM HELL.
WHO REALLY OWNS STERLING HOUSE?
That last one made her stomach tighten.
She called Nora’s name.
Nora emerged wearing the gray sweatpants she had brought for Claire.
“You stole my emergency pants.”
“They were wasted on you.”
Claire handed her the phone.
Nora scanned the screen.
“Well.”
“Very helpful.”
“This is why we employ communications people.”
“My name is attached to Monroe Residential in three public filings.”
“I know.”
“Anyone competent will connect it.”
“I know.”
“I do not want headlines saying billionaire landlord evicts ex-fiancé.”
“You’re not a billionaire.”
“That is the part you object to?”
“Accuracy matters.”
Claire rubbed her face.
Nora sat at the kitchen table.
“Board call at nine.”
“I’ll join.”
“You’re recused.”
“I can explain the history.”
“You can explain. You can’t decide.”
Claire poured coffee.
“I know.”
At nine, five directors appeared in little rectangles on Claire’s laptop screen.
Nobody mentioned the video for the first four minutes.
They discussed quarterly occupancy.
A refinancing package.
Insurance renewals.
Then Martin Feld, the oldest director, removed his glasses.
“Claire.”
“Yes.”
“I assume we should address Sterling House.”
“Yes.”
“Did you direct counsel to terminate the tenancy last night?”
“I did.”
“Because of a business review?”
Claire held his gaze through the screen.
“No.”
Nobody moved.
Claire continued.
“The property already had reasons supporting nonrenewal. I had postponed acting on them because of my relationship with Ethan Sterling. Last night I reversed that delay for personal reasons.”
Martin leaned back.
May you like
“Thank you for saying it plainly.”
Claire nodded.
