Chapter 6 - SULLIVAN'S VERSION
Sullivan arrived at Naomi Feld’s office two days later with his own lawyer.
He looked wrecked.
Claire had expected rage.
Instead he looked like a man who had not slept since losing control of the story.
His attorney began carefully.
“My client denies intending financial harm.”
Claire almost laughed.
Naomi did not.
Sullivan finally spoke.
“I was trying to help Mom.”
Claire stared at him.
“With my company?”
“She was going to lose the lake house.”
“Then why didn’t you ask me?”
Sullivan looked down.
“Because you would have said no.”
The same answer people always gave after taking away consent.
Claire continued:
“Did you know your mother gave me her prescription medication?”
He hesitated.
“Yes.”
Her face hardened.
“Why?”
“You were panicking.”
“I was postpartum.”
“You were crying for hours.”
“My newborn wouldn’t latch and I had just had surgery.”
“I know.”
“No, Sullivan. You don’t.”
He started crying.
That did not help him.
Claire asked about the missed appointment.
He admitted deleting the clinic voicemail because he believed Claire needed rest and “doctors were making her more anxious.”
Then the forged consent.
“I didn’t forge it.”
“Who did?”
He looked at his attorney.
Then at Claire.
“My mother prepared it.”
“Did you use it?”
Silence.
“Yes.”
There.
Not architect.
Participant.
Sullivan said Philippa convinced him Claire would approve once she recovered.
He believed the company was “family wealth.”
Claire corrected him.
“It is a corporation with other owners.”
“I know that now.”
“You knew it then.”
He looked away.
That was true too.
Claire asked one final question.
“Why did you tell people I was unstable?”
Sullivan’s face collapsed.
“Because if everyone thought you were fine, they’d ask why you weren’t signing things yourself.”
Claire sat completely still.
There it was.
The truth under everything.
May you like
Her pain had not merely been ignored.
It had been useful.
