Chapter 2 - THE OTHER CLARA
The woman’s birth name was Claire Dawson.
She had married me legally five years earlier under the name Clara Carter.
I had never met her.
The woman beside me—my Clara—had attended the ceremony, lived in the house, shared my life, and built our marriage.
But the filed documents used Claire’s fingerprints.
Why?
My mother had arranged the marriage around a family trust.
The Carter estate required the eldest son to marry a woman from the Dawson bloodline before age thirty-five.
Claire carried that bloodline.
My Clara did not.
So Margaret used Claire’s identity to satisfy the trust, then placed my Clara into the marriage because she believed I would prefer her personality.
A legal wife.
A living wife.
Two women split across one role.
Claire said she had been paid to remain hidden.
Then Margaret stopped paying.
Now she wanted her share of the estate.
Clara looked at me.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
Sienna laughed.
“You always know less than you think.”
The ceiling camera continued recording.
Every lie now existed in one room.
Then Claire placed the documents on the dining table.
One page showed Clara’s original name.
EMILY SHAW.
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My wife had been living under a false identity since childhood.
Read Chapter 3 to learn why Emily Shaw became Clara Carter.
