Chapter 4 - ETHAN'S PART
Ethan arrived at the office through the underground garage.
Claire was in a private conference room.
Hair washed hastily in a staff shower.
Borrowed shirt.
Eyes swollen.
He rushed toward her.
“Claire—”
She stepped back.
“Did you know?”
“About the posts? No.”
“About Vanessa targeting the audit?”
“No.”
“About the photos?”
He hesitated.
Wrong.
Claire saw it.
“What?”
Ethan sat.
“Vanessa hired a private investigator during the separation.”
Claire went still.
“You knew?”
“I knew she had photographs.”
“And you never told me?”
“I thought it was over.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
Everything in this family was always over until it became useful again.
Then Rachel entered.
“Ethan, I need a straight answer. When you first became involved with Claire, did Vanessa believe reconciliation was still possible?”
Silence.
Claire looked at him.
Ethan answered:
“Yes.”
The room changed.
Claire whispered:
“You told me it was finished.”
“It was for me.”
“That’s not what she believed.”
“No.”
“Did you tell her that?”
“I told her the marriage was over.”
“When?”
“Before you and I—”
“Exactly when?”
Ethan could not answer quickly.
That was enough.
Claire was not the woman who destroyed Vanessa’s marriage.
May you like
But Ethan had let both women live inside different versions of how final the separation was.
That ambiguity became Vanessa’s fuel.
