Chapter 5 - Claudia's Second Secret
Claudia came back the next morning.
This time, I had asked her to.
She entered cautiously.
Rachel sat by the window.
Mara stood beside the bed.
The photograph lay faceup on the tray table.
Claudia saw it.
Then stopped walking.
That was all the confirmation I needed.
"You know her," I said.
Claudia looked at Mara.
"Who is she?"
No answer.
"Claudia."
She slowly sat down.
"Her name is Vivian Ross."
Mara wrote it down.
"What does she do?"
"Private wealth management."
"For Daniel?"
Claudia nodded.
I picked up the photograph.
"Why did he meet her?"
"He wanted to restructure assets."
"What assets?"
Claudia's eyes moved toward me.
"Yours."
Rachel stood.
"Excuse me?"
Mara lifted a hand.
"Let her talk."
Claudia folded her hands tightly.
"Daniel said your surgery created uncertainty."
"What kind of uncertainty?"
"Control."
I almost laughed.
That word again.
"He wanted control of what?"
"The trust. Your company shares. Some property."
"Which property?"
"The lake house."
I stared at her.
My father's lake house.
The place where I had pictured peace before anesthesia.
"That's mine."
"I know."
"Daniel knows too."
Claudia looked ashamed.
"He thought if you signed certain documents before surgery, he could later argue that you intended to consolidate management."
Mara's voice became sharp.
"What documents?"
"I never saw all of them."
"Which did you see?"
"A power-of-attorney amendment."
My stomach tightened.
There it was.
Mara continued.
"Did Emily sign it?"
Claudia shook her head.
"I don't know."
"Did Daniel ask you to witness a signature?"
Claudia looked down.
Silence.
My heart sank.
"Claudia."
She began crying.
"I didn't know what it was."
Rachel cursed.
I said nothing.
Mara leaned closer.
"What did you witness?"
"Daniel brought me a page."
"When?"
"About six weeks ago."
"Was Emily present?"
"No."
"Whose signature was on it?"
Claudia whispered, "Emily's."
Mara's face went cold.
"And you signed as witness?"
Claudia nodded.
Rachel took one step toward her.
Mara blocked her.
"Do you understand what you just admitted?"
Claudia looked terrified.
"I thought she'd signed it earlier."
"Did you see her sign?"
"No."
"Then why did you attest that you did?"
"Daniel said it was just paperwork."
Mara stared at her.
"That's not an answer."
Claudia wiped tears from her cheeks.
"I trusted him."
The irony almost made me laugh.
She had betrayed me because she trusted my husband.
Now my husband had betrayed her too.
"Why tell me now?" I asked.
Claudia looked at me.
"Because Sophie asked me something last night."
"What?"
"She asked whether Daniel was going to live with us now."
I waited.
"I told her I didn't know."
Claudia swallowed.
"Then she said he told her we'd all have a bigger house soon."
My skin prickled.
"Which house?"
"Yours."
Rachel whispered, "Oh, hell no."
Claudia continued.
"He told her we'd move into your house after your surgery."
The cruelty of that image was breathtaking.
My kitchen.
My bedroom.
My father's photographs.
Claudia at my table.
Sophie walking through rooms that had once been mine.
And Daniel expecting I might wake with enough missing pieces that I couldn't stop it.
Mara closed her notebook.
"Claudia, I'm going to advise you to get your own attorney."
Her face went pale.
"Am I in trouble?"
"I'm not your lawyer."
"I didn't forge anything."
"Then preserve every message Daniel ever sent you."
"I have them."
"All of them?"
"Yes."
Daniel had always complained that Claudia kept too many texts.
For the first time, I felt grateful for it.
"Give them to your attorney," Mara said. "Then your attorney can communicate with us."
Claudia looked at me.
"I'm sorry."
I had imagined those words many times since yesterday.
I had expected rage.
Satisfaction.
Maybe tears.
Instead, I felt tired.
"You were my friend."
"I know."
"No. You knew facts about me. That's different."
Her face crumpled.
I continued quietly.
"You knew I blamed myself for not giving Daniel children."
She covered her mouth.
"You let me sit across from you and say maybe he deserved someone who could."
"Emily..."
"And you already had."
She sobbed.
Rachel looked away.
I did not.
Not because I wanted Claudia to suffer.
Because I needed to say it once.
Then I wanted to stop carrying it.
"Sophie didn't betray me," I said. "You did."
Claudia nodded.
"I know."
"Do not use that child to make me forgive you."
"I won't."
"And don't ever tell her this was her fault."
"I won't."
"Good."
Claudia stood.
Before leaving, she pulled a small USB drive from her purse.
"What's that?" Mara asked.
"Daniel's messages."
Mara did not touch it.
"Give it to your lawyer first."
"There's one thing on it Emily needs to know now."
She looked at me.
"Daniel wasn't just worried you'd remember."
"What was he worried about?"
"That you'd recover fast enough to attend the board meeting."
I frowned.
"What board meeting?"
Claudia looked at Mara.
"The one tomorrow."
Mara opened her phone.
"No meeting is scheduled."
"There is."
"How do you know?"
"Daniel told me last week."
"What was the agenda?"
Claudia hesitated.
"Removing Emily."
My stomach dropped.
"From the company?"
"From the board."
Rachel stepped closer.
"He can't just do that."
Mara was already dialing.
"Maybe not legally."
She called Harold Greene.
He answered.
Mara put him on speaker.
"Harold, is there a board meeting tomorrow?"
A pause.
"No."
"Has Daniel called one?"
Another pause.
"Not that I've received."
Mara looked at Claudia.
"Are you sure?"
Claudia nodded.
"Daniel said he had the votes."
Harold's voice sharpened.
"What votes?"
Claudia looked terrified.
"His. Gregory's proxy. And Emily's."
I stared at Mara.
"My vote?"
Claudia nodded.
"He said you'd already authorized it."
Mara's expression became frighteningly calm.
"Harold, check every board consent filed in the last thirty days."
Keyboard sounds came through the phone.
Then silence.
Too much silence.
"Harold?"
"I'm looking."
Another pause.
Then he inhaled sharply.
"There's one."
"Read it."
"Special written consent authorizing temporary suspension of Emily Mercer's voting rights in the event of neurological incapacity."
My fingers went numb.
"Who signed it?"
Harold didn't answer immediately.
Then he said, "Daniel."
"Who else?"
"Gregory."
Mara frowned.
"Gregory signed?"
"As corporate secretary."
"And Emily?"
Harold's voice changed.
"Her signature is here."
I stared at the hospital ceiling.
"I never signed it."
No one spoke.
Then Harold added one more sentence.
"There is also a physician certification attached."
Dr. Patel had never signed anything.
I knew that immediately.
Mara knew it too.
"Whose name?"
Paper rustled.
Then Harold read it.
"Dr. Samuel Kern."
My heart stopped for half a beat.
I knew that name.
He wasn't my surgeon.
He wasn't even on my medical team.
May you like
He was Daniel's brother-in-law.
And according to the document, he had already declared me mentally incapacitated before my surgery had even begun.
