Chapter 9 - The Affidavit.
Ethan arrived at Mara's office just after sunset.
Claire did not invite him inside.
Mara did.
That difference mattered.
Ethan sat across from Claire with the affidavit between them.
He looked exhausted.
"I signed it three weeks ago."
Claire said nothing.
"My mother told me it was only for the bank."
Claire's expression did not change.
"You swore I authorized you."
"She said you were going to sign the proxy anyway."
"But I didn't."
"I know."
"You knew before tonight."
Ethan pressed both palms together.
"Yes."
Claire felt surprisingly calm.
The plate had shocked her.
The forged signatures had frightened her.
This hurt differently.
This was deliberate betrayal performed while they were still sharing a home.
"Why did you throw the plate?"
Ethan stared at the floor.
"Because when you said no, I knew the affidavit would become a problem."
There it was.
Not passion.
Not a sudden loss of control.
Panic.
Claire leaned back.
"You weren't angry because I embarrassed you."
"No."
"You were angry because I ruined the story you had already signed."
Ethan's silence confirmed it.
Mara slid a legal pad toward him.
"If you want to help yourself, start telling the truth."
Ethan looked at Claire.
"Is that what you want?"
Claire shook her head.
"What I want stopped mattering when you decided my name was useful."
For the next hour, Ethan described meetings Claire had never known about.
Eleanor had been moving company funds to cover losses in three overleveraged properties.
Northline offered rescue financing.
In exchange, it wanted control rights.
Claire's shares blocked the plan.
Eleanor first tried to obtain cooperation.
Then she built a paper trail suggesting Claire had already approved the transactions.
Ethan admitted he gave his mother access to an old tablet Claire had used for work.
He claimed he did not know it would be used to impersonate her.
Jonah asked one question.
"Where is the tablet now?"
Ethan froze.
Claire noticed immediately.
"You still have it."
He nodded.
"At the house."
Jonah stood.
"We need it preserved."
Ethan reached for his phone.
Then he stopped.
"My mother knows I came here."
Claire's stomach tightened.
"How?"
"She tracks the family vehicles through the estate security system."
Mara immediately contacted counsel overseeing the preservation order.
Within minutes, a neutral technician was authorized to collect the device.
Ethan provided the location.
A locked drawer in his home office.
Thirty minutes later, the technician called.
The drawer was empty.
Claire looked at Ethan.
He went pale.
"She took it."
Jonah asked whether the tablet had cloud backups.
Ethan hesitated.
"I don't know."
Claire nearly snapped.
Then Ethan remembered something.
Their home internet system automatically backed up connected devices to a local network storage unit.
The storage unit was in the basement utility room.
Mara arranged access.
At eleven twenty, Jonah called from the estate.
"We found a backup."
Claire stood.
"What's on it?"
"Messages."
"Between who?"
"Ethan and Eleanor."
Claire looked at her husband.
Jonah continued.
"And a draft memo that was never sent."
"What memo?"
A pause.
"Instructions for what to do if Claire refused to sign the proxy."
Claire's hand tightened around the phone.
"What did it say?"
Jonah answered.
"Remove her before the refinancing vote."
Claire slowly looked at Ethan.
Ethan looked horrified.
"I never saw that."
May you like
Claire believed him again.
And again, believing him did not make anything easier.
