His sister opened the door in a sweatshirt and slippers.
She had left the hallway lamp on for him.
Claire was three years older and had never learned to disguise concern.
She looked at the small overnight bag in his hand.
“Did she hit you?”
“No.”
“Did you hit her?”
“Of course not.”
Claire stepped aside.
“Then come inside before you freeze.”
Mark set the bag near the stairs.
Claire made tea even though he said he did not want any.
She had been making tea during family emergencies since their mother became ill.
Mark sat at the kitchen table and told her about the forged guarantee.
Claire listened without interrupting.
She asked him to repeat the company’s name.
When he said Westbridge Family Holdings, her expression changed.
Claire worked as an office manager for a commercial insurance broker.
She had seen that name on a request for property coverage the previous spring.
She remembered it because the applicant had claimed to own specialized medical refrigeration equipment.
The request had been withdrawn after the insurer asked for serial numbers and photographs.
Claire took a legal pad from a drawer.
“Tell me exactly what the attorney said.”
Mark repeated Evelyn’s words as carefully as he could.
He included the part about Daniel being the managing member.
Claire wrote everything down.
“Do not call Daniel tonight.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Do not go to the locker by yourself.”
Mark looked up.
“I wasn’t planning that either.”
Claire rested her pen on the table.
“I’m not trying to run your life.”
“I know.”
“I am trying to keep you from making a mistake while somebody else is counting on you to make one.”
Mark looked at the clock above the refrigerator.
He could still hear Vanessa telling him that Daniel made her feel wanted.
The words hurt differently now.
They no longer sounded like a cruel comparison between two men.
They sounded like a distraction designed to make him focus on jealousy instead of paperwork.
Mark took a slow breath.
“I think she wanted me angry.”
Claire nodded.
“Then don’t give her that.”
Mark slept badly on the guest bed.
He dreamed of standing outside his own house while strangers carried boxes through the front door.
When he woke, he found a message from Vanessa.
She had written that he was being dramatic and that they needed to talk before he embarrassed both of them.
A second message arrived a minute later.
It said Daniel had nothing to do with their marriage.
Mark did not respond.
He forwarded both messages to his attorney, a woman named Rachel Sloane.
