Chapter 2: The Open Door
**— PART 2 —**
Claire's front door was open.
Not unlocked.
Open.
I stood on the path and listened.
Voices carried from inside — Claire's, and a man's I didn't recognize.
"She won't find out," Claire was saying.
"She's back home falling apart.
She doesn't even know what she has yet."
The man said something low.
Then Claire laughed.
I hadn't heard her laugh since before her father d*ed.
I didn't knock.
I stepped inside.
Claire spun around.
The color left her face so fast it looked like something had been pulled out of her.
"What are you— you're supposed to be—"
"Home?" I said.
"Grieving?"
The man beside her grabbed his jacket off the chair.
He was out the door before Claire could speak again.
I looked around the room.
On the table behind her sat a folder.
Frank's name was printed on the tab.
I pointed to it.
"What is that?"
She moved to block it.
"It's nothing.
Just paperwork.
Hospital forms."
"Then why are you standing in front of it?"
Her mouth opened.
Closed.
I reached into my coat pocket and placed Frank's wedding ring on the table between us.
Claire stared at it.
Something shifted in her eyes — not grief.
Not guilt.
Fear.
"He left me a message, Claire," I said quietly.
"And I think you already know what it says."
She didn't deny it.
That was the moment I understood this was much bigger than I'd imagined.
---
What was inside that folder — and what did Claire know before Frank even boarded that plane?
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