Chapter 12 - The Ten-Year Debt
There were two Claires
I read the message again.
Then again.
Daniel's face went pale.
"That number?"
"Claire's."
"Show me."
He looked at it.
"It's real."
Emily stepped closer.
"Mom?"
Daniel shook his head.
"Maybe."
That was the word I hated most.
Maybe.
Maybe Claire was alive.
Maybe she was dead.
Maybe the woman in the photograph was her.
Maybe she was not.
The truth had become a hall of mirrors.
Then Lena spoke.
"I know which Claire you're looking for."
Everyone turned.
She reached into her bag and pulled out a photograph.
It showed Claire.
Standing outside the hospital.
Beside another woman.
Same face.
Same hair.
Same smile.
My knees weakened.
"There were twins?"
Lena nodded.
"Claire had a sister."
I stared at the photograph.
"Nobody told me."
"Nobody was supposed to."
Her sister's name was Camille.
She had died years before.
Or at least, that was the official record.
But the woman in the recent photograph was not Claire.
It was Camille.
Alive.
Using Claire's identity.
I felt sick.
"Why?"
"Because Victor needed someone who looked enough like Claire to keep Emily compliant."
I stared.
"Then where is my wife?"
Lena looked at me.
"Dead."
The word shattered me.
"She died in the crash?"
"No."
Lena's voice was barely audible.
"Victor took her from the hospital."
I closed my eyes.
"How long?"
"Eleven months."
"Why?"
"She refused to tell him where your father's ledger was."
My fists clenched.
"He killed her."
Lena nodded.
"But before she died, she hid the ledger."
"Where?"
"In the place she knew you would never search."
I thought of the penthouse.
My office.
The summer house.
The cemetery.
Nothing.
Then Emily spoke.
"The piano."
I looked at her.
"What piano?"
"The one in your bedroom."
I remembered.
The old grand piano Claire had bought before Emily was born.
I had never touched it after the accident.
Back at the penthouse, Emily stood in front of it.
She ran her hand underneath the frame.
"There."
A hidden latch opened.
Inside was a tiny metal cylinder.
Daniel opened it.
A microfilm strip.
Bank numbers.
Names.
Dates.
At the bottom:
CROSS CAPITAL INFILTRATION MAP.
It listed everyone Victor had compromised.
Doctors.
Lawyers.
Police.
Politicians.
But one name was highlighted.
My name.
Beside it was another note.
TARGET MUST REMAIN EMOTIONALLY ISOLATED.
I stared.
They had not only wanted Emily gone.
They had wanted me broken.
A broken Nathaniel was easier to control than a powerful one.
Then I saw another file.
It contained recordings.
One of them was from ten years earlier.
My voice.
I played it.
"Claire, I know you're scared."
Her voice answered.
"You need to forget me."
"No."
"If you love me, you will."
I froze.
The recording continued.
"I have proof Victor ordered the crash."
My younger voice sounded frantic.
"Then we'll expose him."
Claire whispered,
"No. Because if he knows you know, Emily dies."
A long silence.
Then I heard myself say,
"What do you want me to do?"
Claire answered,
"Let them think I won."
The recording ended.
I sat down.
She had planned to make me hate her.
To make me believe she had abandoned me.
To make me stop looking for her.
Not because she didn't love me.
Because she did.
Emily sat beside me.
"You loved Mom a lot."
"More than anything."
She leaned against my shoulder.
"She loved you too."
I looked at her.
"How do you know?"
"Because she talked about you every night."
Tears filled my eyes.
Then Daniel's phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
"What's wrong?"
He looked at me.
"Noah escaped."
"Where is he?"
Daniel swallowed.
"He's coming here."
The apartment door opened.
A nine-year-old boy stood there.
Alone.
Blood on his shirt.
He looked at me.
May you like
And said,
"Uncle Nathaniel, they're coming."
