Chương 5
I answered.
“Hello?”
There was silence.
Then a woman spoke.
“Is this Mabel Carter?”
“Yes.”
“This is Claire Whitmore.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
Arthur remained still.
“I know you probably hate me.”
The honesty caught me off guard.
“I don’t know you.”
“No.”
Her voice cracked slightly.
“But I know what I did.”
I said nothing.
“I didn’t call to make excuses.”
“Then why call?”
A pause.
Because apparently everyone in my life had become comfortable leaving important things unsaid until they were forced into the open.
“Because Julian is not telling you everything.”
I looked at Arthur.
He immediately reached for a notepad.
“What do you mean?”
Claire exhaled.
“He called me this morning.”
“Why?”
“To tell me I needed to disappear.”
The room became completely silent.
“What?”
“He said Evelyn was dead, and now everything was going to become complicated.”
My stomach tightened.
“He knew?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“He found out last night.”
That meant after I told him.
After he pretended not to know.
“He told me you were unstable,” Claire continued.
My jaw clenched.
“He said you were angry and trying to ruin his life.”
I looked at the photograph on the desk.
“He said that?”
“Yes.”
Claire sounded ashamed.
“I believed him before.”
The admission hung between us.
“Why are you telling me now?”
For several seconds, there was only silence.
Then she answered.
“Because I saw what he did to his mother.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“I went to Evelyn’s house once.”
“You said that.”
“No.”
Her voice became quieter.
“I mean after I knew everything.”
Arthur leaned closer.
“Claire, can you tell us exactly what happened?”
She hesitated.
“Julian doesn’t know I kept copies.”
“Copies of what?”
“Documents.”
My heartbeat increased.
“What documents?”
Another pause.
Then Claire said something that made Arthur immediately sit straighter.
“The ones proving Julian wasn’t just taking money from his mother.”
I held the phone tighter.
“What else was he doing?”
Claire’s voice dropped.
“He was trying to change who inherited everything.”
I looked at Arthur.
The attorney’s expression had changed.
Not shock.
Concern.
And that scared me more.
Because Arthur had spent thirty years dealing with difficult people.
If something worried him, it meant the problem was bigger than I understood.
“Claire,” I said slowly.
“What did Julian try to do?”
“He tried to make you the beneficiary.”
The words came so quietly that I almost missed them.
I looked at Arthur.
He was already writing something down.
“Beneficiary of what?” I asked.
“Evelyn’s estate.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“But Julian was her son.”
“Yes.”
“Why would he need to change anything?”
Claire hesitated.
“Because Evelyn changed everything first.”
Arthur stopped writing.
“What did she change?”
Claire took a breath.
“She moved the properties into a trust that Julian couldn’t control.”
I looked at Arthur.
“That’s what the documents showed.”
Claire continued.
“But Julian didn’t know all the details at first.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he asked me to help him.”
The sentence sat there.
Heavy.
Ugly.
I closed my eyes for a second.
“What did he ask you to do?”
Claire’s voice became smaller.
“He wanted me to pretend I was interested in buying one of the properties.”
Arthur’s expression hardened.
“Why?”
“Because he thought if Evelyn believed he had a serious buyer, she would sell.”
I stared at the floor.
A picture formed in my mind.
Julian walking through his mother’s house.
Smiling.
Pretending to care.
Asking about her health.
Then leaving and making plans behind her back.
“How long was this happening?” I asked.
“I don’t know exactly.”
“You said you kept copies.”
“Yes.”
“Of what?”
“Emails.”
“Messages.”
“Documents he sent me.”
Claire paused.
“And one conversation.”
Arthur looked up.
“A recorded conversation?”
“Yes.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“Why?”
“Because I started realizing I was not the only person he was lying to.”
The honesty in her voice confused me.
I had spent hours imagining Claire as someone cruel.
Someone who knew exactly what she was doing.
But the person on the phone did not sound proud.
She sounded tired.
“What happened?” I asked.
Claire was quiet for several seconds.
Then she said, “I found out he was still wearing his wedding ring.”
I looked down at my own bare finger.
“I know that sounds stupid.”
“It doesn’t.”
“But I asked him about it.”
“What did he say?”
“He said it was complicated.”
A bitter laugh escaped her.
“I should have left then.”
I did not answer.
Because I understood that sentence more than I wanted to.
Everyone had a moment when they should leave.
A moment where something inside them whispers that the truth is standing right in front of them.
The problem was that leaving meant admitting you had stayed too long.
Claire continued.
“He told me you were basically separated.”
“We weren’t.”
“I know that now.”
The way she said it bothered me.
Not because she was wrong.
Because she sounded like someone who had finally accepted a painful fact.
“Where are the copies?” Arthur asked.
“I have them.”
“Why haven’t you given them to anyone?”
“Because I was afraid.”
That answer was simple.
And believable.
Fear had controlled more people than anger ever could.
“Afraid of Julian?”
“Yes.”
“What did he threaten?”
Claire became silent.
Then she said, “Not me.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“Who?”
“My brother.”
I frowned.
“What does your brother have to do with Julian?”
“He works for Julian’s company.”
Arthur leaned forward.
“What company?”
“Carter Development Group.”
I felt something shift.
Julian’s business.
The company he spent years talking about.
The company he claimed he built through sacrifice.
The company that was always the reason he missed dinners, birthdays, and doctor appointments.
“What about your brother?” Arthur asked.
“Julian knew my brother had financial problems.”
A cold feeling moved through me.
“And?”
“He said if I caused trouble, my brother would lose his job.”
Arthur’s jaw tightened.
“He threatened employment?”
“And more.”
May you like
Claire swallowed.
“He said he could make sure my brother never worked in the industry again.”
