Chapter 8: Three Days of Fear
The Westlake representative emailed the release document while we were still in the conference room.
Claire’s signature appeared beneath a statement surrendering any guarantor claim against Brooke’s business assets.
“I didn’t sign this,” Claire said.
Reid enlarged the document.
“The signature was copied from the original loan.”
Brooke stopped on the stairs.
I looked over the railing.
“Did you hear that?”
She turned slowly.
“Claire wanted off the loan.”
“Not by surrendering her rights,” I said.
Brooke came back into the room.
“You can’t prove who submitted it.”
The Westlake representative was still on speaker.
“It was uploaded from the borrower portal,” she said.
“The login came from the salon’s registered internet address.”
Brooke grabbed her handbag.
“I’m done listening to this.”
Claire blocked the doorway.
“You used my name.”
“You used Maya’s money.”
“And I will spend the rest of my life making that right.”
“Move.”
“No.”
Brooke leaned close.
“You were weak long before I found those letters.”
Claire’s hands trembled at her sides.
“You knew exactly where to press.”
“And you paid.”
Maya stepped beside her mother.
“Not anymore.”
Brooke looked from Claire to Maya, then to me.
“You all need someone to blame because the perfect family was already a lie.”
I opened the door.
“Leave the salon keys.”
“It’s half mine.”
“Then keep your half.
You won’t enter Claire’s without written permission.”
Brooke dropped one key on the floor.
“When that test arrives, don’t call me for comfort.”
She walked downstairs, but the threat stayed in the room.
Three days later, Evelyn came to our house with a sealed Northstar envelope.
Maya asked all three of us to sit at the kitchen island where the empty account had first appeared.
“You don’t have to open it,” I said.
“Yes, I do.”
Her finger slipped beneath the seal.
Claire reached for her, then stopped.
Maya unfolded the page and read silently.
“What does it say?” Claire whispered.
Maya looked at me.
Tears filled her eyes.
“Probability of paternity: 99.998%.”
Claire made a sound between a laugh and a sob.
I pulled Maya into my arms, and she clung to me.
“You were always my dad,” she said.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.
I was afraid you’d be relieved if it said I wasn’t yours.”
I held her face in both hands.
“There was no result that could take you away from me.”
Claire covered her eyes and cried.
Maya watched her for a moment, then reached across the island.
“Mom.”
Claire lowered her hands.
“I’m still angry,” Maya said.
“But come here.”
Claire moved around the island, and Maya let her join us.
None of us pretended the money was restored or the marriage repaired.
But for one minute, Brooke’s lie had no place between us.
The doorbell interrupted us.
A process server stood outside with papers naming Claire and me in a lawsuit.
Brooke claimed the $51,000 payoff and Mustang purchase were gifts and demanded that Claire sell her share of the salon building to cover “damages to Brooke’s reputation.”
Claire read the final page.
“She filed this yesterday,” she said.
I looked through the window.
Brooke was sitting in a car across the street, watching our house.
My phone rang.
It was Graham from the dealership.
“The refund was rejected,” he said.
May you like
“Brooke filed a claim saying Claire had no authority to return the Mustang.”
Across the street, Brooke raised one hand and waved.
