Chapter 7 - Claire Finally Told the Truth
Claire disappeared for two days.
No credit-card activity.
No hotel checkouts.
No calls.
Then she walked into the Delaney Foundation headquarters at 2:17 on a Thursday afternoon carrying a red leather folder.
Luke was notified immediately.
He arrived twelve minutes later.
Claire sat in the boardroom alone.
Luke stopped in the doorway.
“You have nerve.”
She looked exhausted.
No makeup.
Hair tied back.
Nothing like the woman who had arranged herself carefully in the hotel suite.
“I need immunity.”
Luke almost laughed.
“I’m not law enforcement.”
“You know people.”
“So do you.”
“Not anymore.”
Luke closed the door.
“Where is Grant?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where were you?”
“Driving.”
“Why?”
“Thinking.”
Luke remained standing.
Claire looked at his left hand.
He had put his wedding ring back on.
She smiled bitterly.
“Of course.”
Luke’s face hardened.
“Do not talk about my marriage.”
“You kissed me.”
“Yes.”
“And then ran back to her.”
“I left your hotel before I knew Paige was gone.”
“You know what I mean.”
Luke sat.
“What do you want?”
Claire placed the red folder on the table.
“Grant killed Thomas.”
Luke stared.
“Prove it.”
She pushed the folder forward.
Inside was a photocopy of a handwritten note.
Grant’s handwriting.
Luke recognized it from older contracts.
A medication name.
Dosage.
Thomas Barrett’s address.
Below that:
H says pills cabinet beside fridge.
Luke’s blood went cold.
“Where did you get this?”
“Grant’s home office four years ago.”
“You’ve had it four years.”
“Yes.”
“And did nothing.”
Claire laughed.
“What should I have done?”
“Police.”
“With what? A note?”
“You knew what it meant.”
“I suspected.”
“There’s more.”
Claire reached into her bag.
An old cassette tape.
Luke stared.
“What is that?”
“Mom used to record phone calls.”
“Why?”
“She thought Dad—Grant—was cheating.”
Luke almost laughed at the absurdity.
Claire continued.
“She recorded one call between Grant and Roman.”
“When?”
“Three days after Thomas died.”
Luke’s expression changed.
“Have you listened?”
“Yes.”
“What does it say?”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“Roman asks whether Grant touched the medication.”
Luke went still.
“And?”
“Grant says, ‘I only made sure he had enough to calm down.’”
Luke stared at her.
“What does Roman say?”
“‘You idiot. That wasn’t the deal.’”
Silence.
Luke understood.
Roman had helped destroy Thomas’s business.
But apparently even Roman had not approved murder.
“Why didn’t you give this to Paige?”
Claire looked away.
“Because I hated her.”
“That isn’t enough.”
“It is.”
“No.”
Luke leaned forward.
“You went after her marriage. You gave me evidence designed to make me think my wife had used me. You kissed me.”
“You kissed back.”
“Yes.”
He did not flinch.
“And I will live with that.”
Claire seemed disappointed.
Luke continued.
“But you wanted more than revenge.”
She stared at him.
“Tell me.”
Tears slid down her face.
“I wanted to see if she could lose something too.”
Luke looked at her with disgust.
Claire snapped, “Don’t look at me like that.”
“How should I look?”
“You think Paige is innocent?”
“No.”
That surprised her.
“She lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“She concealed things I had the right to know.”
“Yes.”
“She used my identity in the beginning.”
“Yes.”
Luke’s voice remained calm.
“And none of that gives either of us the right to destroy her.”
Claire looked away.
He continued.
“What did Paige take from you?”
“My father.”
“Thomas was hers too.”
“She got him first.”
“You were three years younger.”
“She got the version who taught her to ride a bike. The version who helped with homework. The version who called her Birdie.”
Claire’s voice cracked.
“I got thirteen years of a man who looked tired all the time.”
Luke’s anger shifted.
Not gone.
But he saw the child inside the cruelty.
Claire continued.
“And when I finally learned he was actually my father, he had been dead eleven years.”
She wiped her face.
“You know what Grant told me?”
Luke waited.
“He said Thomas knew I was his and still let me call another man Dad.”
“That was Grant’s version.”
“I know that now.”
Luke stared.
“Paige tried to tell you.”
“She tried to expose everything.”
“Yes.”
“She didn’t care what it would do to me.”
“Did you care what hiding it did to her?”
Claire’s face collapsed.
No.
There it was.
The answer she did not want.
Luke looked at the cassette.
“Does Paige know you have this?”
“No.”
“She deserves it.”
“I know.”
“Then give it to her.”
Claire shook her head.
“I’m afraid.”
“Of Grant?”
“Yes.”
“Of prison?”
“For what?”
“Blackmail.”
Luke paused.
So Roman had been right.
Claire admitted demanding money from Grant.
Not only once.
Three times.
She threatened to release his role in Thomas’s financial collapse.
Grant paid her.
Then stopped.
Claire used some of the money to pay debts.
Some to travel.
Some simply because taking money from him felt like punishment.
Luke rubbed his face.
“You extorted your father’s possible killer instead of turning him in.”
“I was angry.”
“That word is doing a lot of work in this family.”
Claire laughed weakly.
Fair.
Luke asked, “Why come now?”
Claire looked at his wedding ring again.
“Because Paige left you.”
“So?”
“I thought I’d feel good.”
Luke waited.
“I didn’t.”
Claire looked down.
“I watched you read those documents in the hotel.”
Her voice softened.
“You looked destroyed.”
“You wanted that.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And when you kissed me, I thought I won.”
Luke flinched.
Claire continued.
“Then you pushed me away and said her name.”
Luke remembered.
Paige.
One word.
He had said it like a man waking up.
Claire laughed through tears.
“I hated her more.”
Luke said nothing.
“Then you left.”
Claire looked at him.
“And I sat there realizing I had spent four years trying to prove love was fake, and all I proved was that I could make people damage it.”
The boardroom stayed quiet.
Finally Luke asked, “Will you testify?”
Claire looked at the cassette.
“Yes.”
“Against Grant?”
“Yes.”
“Against yourself?”
Her lips trembled.
“If I have to.”
Luke nodded.
“Then I’ll connect you with counsel.”
Claire looked at him.
“Are you going to tell Paige about us?”
“She knows.”
“All of it?”
“She knows enough.”
“Does she know you stopped?”
“Yes.”
“Does she forgive you?”
Luke stared at the table.
“No.”
Claire seemed surprised by how much that hurt him.
“Will she?”
“I don’t know.”
For the first time, Luke Delaney admitted there was something he could not force, buy, threaten, or strategize into existence.
Claire whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Luke looked at her.
“For kissing me?”
“For knowing you were angry and pushing anyway.”
Luke nodded once.
“Thank you.”
Then his voice hardened.
“But do not make the mistake of thinking that erases what you did to her.”
“I know.”
Claire handed him the red folder.
“Give it to Paige.”
Luke did not touch it.
“You will.”
Claire frowned.
“She may not want to see me.”
“That is her choice.”
“What if she hates me?”
Luke looked at her.
“She already does.”
May you like
Claire winced.
“Then perhaps start by giving her a reason not to forever.”
