Claire felt sick.
“Kate,” she whispered.
“I ran out.”
Luke stared at the wall.
“Is that why you left home?”
“That was one reason.”
“And Christmas?”
“Mom told me she wanted to meet Noah’s family before the wedding.”
Luke remembered.
“Yes.”
Kate continued.
“She spent dinner telling Noah’s mother that I had always been emotionally unstable.”
“Oh God.”
“She brought up Lucy without saying her name.”
“What?”
“She said I had once become obsessed with something I lost and the family had spent years helping me recover.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Luke’s voice became flat.
“And I believed her when she said you started the fight.”
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“Of course.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
Luke froze.
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“I never got anything.”
“I emailed you.”
Claire looked at Luke.
“I didn’t.”
“She had access to the company server then.”
Luke stopped breathing.
Kate continued.
“I sent it to your work account.”
The Bennett family construction company had been founded by Luke’s grandfather.
Thomas Bennett expanded it.
After Thomas died six years earlier, Diane became chairwoman.
Luke and Andrew both worked there.
Diane did not manage daily operations.
But she controlled the board.
And at the time Kate sent that email, Diane’s assistant managed several executive accounts.
Luke whispered, “What was in it?”
“Everything.”
The call lasted almost two hours.
When it ended, Luke remained on the couch.
Claire sat beside him.
Neither spoke.
Finally he said, “My mother erased my niece.”
Claire took his hand.
“She tried.”
“I didn’t even know she existed.”
“That isn’t your fault.”
He looked at her.
“Some of it is.”
“Luke.”
“I believed whatever explanation required the least from me.”
Claire stayed quiet.
“I did it with Kate.”
His voice broke.
“I almost did it with Ellie.”
Claire squeezed his hand.
“You didn’t.”
“I might have if there hadn’t been fifty people standing there.”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because when you walked into that kitchen, you saw your daughter crying and you believed her.”
Luke looked down.
“That should be the minimum.”