Chapter 2: The Name on the Screen
Marcus called eleven times before he finally stopped.
Then a new message came through.
"I don't know what you think you found, but you don't understand what you're looking at.
Come home and we'll talk."
I read it twice.
*We'll talk.*
Eight months of silence, and now he wanted to talk.
I kept packing.
Twenty minutes later, I heard the front door open downstairs.
He hadn't waited for me to answer.
I heard his footsteps on the stairs — fast, then slower as he reached the top.
He appeared in the doorway holding the folder.
His face was a color I had never seen on him before.
"Claire.
Where did you get this?"
"Your bottom drawer."
"That cabinet was locked."
"It was the day I found it.
It wasn't the day you forgot to lock it."
He stared at me.
Then at the suitcase on the bed.
"You're not leaving."
"I'm already leaving, Marcus."
"You don't understand the full picture—"
"My name is on three of those documents.
Loans I never signed for.
A property transfer I never agreed to." I zipped the suitcase.
"My attorney understood the picture just fine."
The folder dropped slightly in his hand.
"You went to an attorney."
"Eight months ago."
The silence that followed was different from the one at the cookout.
That silence had h*rt me.
This one finally felt like the truth.
Then his phone buzzed on the hallway table.
He didn't move to answer it.
But I could see the screen from where I stood.
The name on it wasn't a business contact.
It was Tessa.
And the preview of her message read: *"Did she find the other folder?"*
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There's a second folder — and what's inside it is worse than anything Claire expected.
Click the link below to read the full story before it's gone.
