Chapter 4 - WHAT SULLIVAN HAD BEEN SIGNING
Claire got out of the house at 9:11 a.m.
She told Sullivan Aloan needed diapers.
He offered to go instead.
Claire said she needed air.
He frowned.
Philippa watched from the kitchen.
Claire packed the diaper bag.
Inside, beneath blankets and wipes, she placed:
her identification,
Aloan’s birth certificate,
the medicine bottle,
her phone charger,
a spare bank card,
and the small folder of postpartum paperwork she had hidden in the nursery drawer.
She drove directly to Maya’s clinic.
The medical exam confirmed Claire was healing, but more slowly than expected.
Her blood count was still low.
She had lost significant blood during surgery.
Rest was not optional.
Neither was follow-up.
Maya documented the medication concern and asked Claire for permission to involve hospital social worker Rachel Kim.
Claire agreed.
Rachel asked about money.
Claire almost laughed.
“I have money.”
“Access to it?”
The question stopped her.
Claire and Sullivan had joint household accounts, but Claire also owned a thirty-percent interest in Bellmere Design Group, an architecture-and-interiors firm she co-founded before marriage.
For the last six months, Sullivan had been “helping” with paperwork because pregnancy exhausted her.
Rachel asked:
“Can he sign for you?”
“No.”
“Does he have passwords?”
Claire hesitated.
“Yes.”
That afternoon, Claire called her business partner, Julia West.
Julia answered immediately.
“Finally. Are you okay?”
Claire frowned.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Sullivan told us you were taking a full six-month leave.”
Claire went cold.
“What?”
“He sent an email last week saying the postpartum recovery was more serious than expected and asked us to route founder approvals through your temporary proxy.”
Claire whispered:
“What proxy?”
Julia went silent.
Then:
“Him.”
Claire closed her eyes.
She had never authorized that.
Julia continued:
“He attached a signed letter.”
Claire’s pulse pounded.
“Send it to me.”
The document arrived thirty seconds later.
Claire opened it.
Temporary Management Consent.
Her name.
Her signature.
Not hers.
At the bottom:
Sullivan Bennett — interim representative.
Claire stared at the screen.
The medication.
The missed appointment.
The “unstable” narrative.
The hidden phone messages.
May you like
This was not only cruelty.
Somebody was constructing incapacity.
