Chapter 6 - The Lie Between Husband and Wife)
Claire stared at the photograph.
Mark waited.
She could hear Noah's monitor humming on the counter.
"Who took this?" Mark asked.
"I don't know."
"Why is someone photographing my house?"
"I don't know."
"Why is Evan here after you told me you barely talk to him?"
Claire swallowed.
"He needed help."
"What kind?"
"Money."
Mark's jaw tightened.
"Again?"
"Yes."
"Did you give him any?"
"No."
That answer was technically true.
It made Claire feel worse.
Mark pointed at the photograph.
"What are you protecting?"
"I don't know what that means."
"Don't."
His voice remained quiet.
"Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Pretend you don't understand."
Claire looked toward the stairs.
Mark followed her gaze.
"Noah's asleep."
"I know."
"Then look at me."
She did.
Mark's eyes were not angry.
They were hurt.
"You've been lying to me for weeks."
Claire felt tears forming.
"I haven't."
"Yes, you have."
He counted with his fingers.
"The broken frame. Evan's visit. The weird transfer from your father's company. The camera footage that vanished. Now somebody photographs you meeting Evan and sends it to this house."
Claire said nothing.
Mark continued.
"And every time I ask, you tell me nothing is happening."
Claire sat down.
"I was trying to protect everyone."
"From what?"
She opened her mouth.
Then remembered Evan's warning.
Lucas has something on Dad.
One more day.
She hated herself.
"I can't tell you yet."
Mark stared at her.
"Can't?"
"I need a little time."
"For what?"
"To make sure I understand everything."
"This involves my company."
"I know."
"My name."
"I know."
"My house."
"I know."
"My wife."
Her eyes filled.
"I know."
Mark walked away from the table.
Claire stood.
"Mark."
He turned.
"I have never asked you to choose me over your family."
"That's not what this is."
"Isn't it?"
"No."
"Then tell me."
She could not.
Mark nodded as if her silence were an answer.
"I have to go to the office."
"Mark."
"I need space."
"Please don't leave angry."
"I'm not angry."
That was worse.
He looked toward the stairs.
"I'm disappointed."
Claire closed her eyes.
The front door shut.
She cried for ten minutes.
Then Noah woke.
Life did not pause for heartbreak.
She fed him.
Changed him.
Held him.
At noon, she drove to her parents' house.
Robert was at work.
Helen was alone.
Claire almost told her mother everything.
Instead, Helen poured coffee and talked about Noah's one-month celebration.
"We should invite the Warrens."
Claire froze.
"Lucas?"
"Of course. He and Cynthia have known your father forever."
"No."
Helen looked surprised.
"No?"
"I don't want him there."
"Why?"
Claire searched for an excuse.
"We're keeping it family."
"Lucas is basically family."
That sentence made Claire sick.
She changed the subject.
Before leaving, she went into Robert's study.
She searched his desk.
Not for evidence.
For anything connected to Lucas.
She found annual reports.
Tax documents.
Board minutes.
Then a locked drawer.
Claire knew where Robert kept the key.
He had hidden it inside the same ceramic horse since she was fourteen.
The drawer opened.
Inside was an envelope marked PRIVATE.
Claire hesitated.
Then opened it.
Hospital records.
Twenty-nine years old.
Her mother's name.
Helen Hayes.
Claire frowned.
The records concerned a pregnancy.
A baby boy.
Evan.
She almost put them back.
Then she noticed a second name.
Robert Hayes was not listed as the biological father.
The section was blank.
Behind the records was a letter.
Claire recognized Lucas Warren's handwriting.
Robert,
You have spent thirty years pretending the past disappeared. It did not.
If you force an audit, Helen learns what you did.
The board learns.
Claire learns.
And Evan learns.
Claire sat down.
Her hands went numb.
Lucas had not merely found financial leverage.
He had found a family secret.
Claire read the hospital records again.
One detail changed everything.
A note written by the attending physician.
PATERNITY DISCLOSURE DECLINED BY MOTHER AT REQUEST OF SPOUSE.
Claire stared at the word spouse.
Robert had known.
He had raised Evan knowing Evan might not be his biological son.
So what was Lucas threatening to reveal?
Not an affair.
Something else.
Claire searched deeper.
At the bottom of the envelope, she found a newspaper clipping.
LOCAL MAN KILLED IN INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT.
The dead man's name was Samuel Warren.
Lucas Warren's older brother.
Claire stopped breathing.
Samuel had died twenty-nine years earlier.
May you like
Three months before Evan was born.
And suddenly the threat became much darker.
