“Beneficiary pages.”
“Why?”
“Ethan.”
“Answer.”
Claire rubbed her forehead.
“Because we are married and I am trying to understand where I stand.”
His face hardened.
“Where you stand.”
“Yes.”
“In my dead wife’s estate.”
“In this family.”
“That box has nothing to do with our marriage.”
“It absolutely does.”
“How?”
Claire looked toward Sophie.
“Because everything does.”
There it was again.
The resentment beneath the practical explanation.
Rachel.
The trust.
Sophie.
The history Claire entered but did not create.
Ethan asked:
“What happened when Sophie saw you?”
Claire took a breath.
“She asked questions.”
“And?”
“I told her it was adult business.”
Sophie shook her head.
“No.”
Ethan looked at her.
“What happened?”
“She said I couldn’t tell.”
Claire said quickly:
“That isn’t what I said.”
Sophie clung tighter.
“You said Daddy would be mad.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“What exactly did you tell her?”
Claire looked at him.
“That you would be upset if she was snooping.”
“Snooping where?”
“She came into your office.”
Ethan almost laughed.
“She lives here.”
“She knows she’s not supposed to play in there.”
“I wanted tape.”
Sophie whispered.
Claire looked away.
Ethan asked:
“What happened after?”
“She took the green box upstairs.”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
Sophie continued.
“She put papers in the black bag.”
Ethan’s chest tightened.
“What black bag?”
“The one in the car.”
Claire’s face went white.
Ethan saw it.
He did not need legal training to understand what that meant.
He worked in private equity.
He had spent twenty years reading faces across negotiation tables.
Claire was terrified.
“Where is your car?”
She stared.
“Garage.”
“What’s in the black bag?”
“Nothing.”
Ethan set Sophie down.
The girl grabbed his hand.
“I’m not leaving.”
He looked toward Claire.
“Stay here.”
“Ethan.”
He picked Sophie up again instead.
He was not leaving her alone with Claire.
They walked through the mud room to the garage.
Claire followed.
“Do not go through my car.”
Ethan stopped.
“Your car?”
“It’s registered to me.”
He almost smiled.
“It was purchased through the household company.”
“That doesn’t give you—”
“I don’t care.”
He turned toward her.
“If you tell me there is nothing involving Rachel or Sophie inside that vehicle, I will wait for a lawyer.”
Claire said nothing.
Ethan nodded.
“Thank you.”
Her black Range Rover sat near the far wall.
Unlocked.
Ethan opened the rear hatch.
Nothing.
Gym bag.
Reusable shopping bags.
A folded stroller Sophie no longer used.
He opened the side compartment.
Nothing.
Then Sophie pointed.
“There.”
Beneath the cargo floor.
A flat storage panel.
Ethan pulled it up.
A black leather document case sat inside.
Claire closed her eyes.
Ethan looked at her.
“Is that yours?”