Chapter 9 - Claire’s Version
“I never wanted her hurt.”
Claire said it through tears.
I had loved her enough that part of me still recognized every expression.
That made it worse.
“You put her behind a steel door.”
“For ten minutes.”
“Without an inside handle.”
“I didn’t know Roman would come.”
“That sentence does nothing for you.”
Claire wiped her face.
Victor told her Mia had stolen confidential foundation records and intended to leak them.
He claimed exposure would trigger investigations that could destroy the Vale businesses and put employees at risk.
Claire believed him.
Or wanted to.
“What did he promise you?”
She hesitated.
There was always money somewhere.
“Nothing.”
I waited.
She broke.
“He promised to settle my mother’s debts.”
Claire’s mother had died owing nearly $900,000 after years of private medical treatment.
Victor had quietly covered part of it.
Claire owed him.
Emotionally.
Financially.
He used both.
Still not an excuse.
Claire disabled basement security.
Claire installed the new padlock with a contractor.
Claire lured Mia downstairs by claiming Harper had dropped something near the storage room.
Then Claire locked her inside while Victor searched upstairs.
“How long was Mia actually there?”
“Twenty-seven minutes.”
Roman’s dashcam timing supported it.
When Roman unexpectedly arrived, Claire panicked.
He freed Mia.
Victor was still searching the house.
Mia ran.
Victor ordered Diane to position the black sedan outside the west gate.
He planned to follow Mia if she tried to leave.
Then Mia returned with Roman.
“What happened after she got out?”
Claire looked at her hands.
“I don’t know.”
“You were here.”
“I was upstairs with Harper.”
“Doing what?”
“Keeping her asleep.”
That phrase felt wrong.
“How?”
Claire’s face changed.
“Claire.”
“I gave her children’s medicine.”
My chair moved backward.
“What medicine?”
“An antihistamine.”
“How much?”
“I followed the bottle.”
“For what symptom?”
“She wouldn’t stop crying.”
The room went silent.
Harper had not been sick.
Claire medicated a toddler for convenience while her mother was being confined downstairs.
My attorney stopped me before I said something useless.
We documented the admission.
Laura reviewed what we knew.
No conclusion without dosage and medical records.
But the decision itself mattered.
Claire had endangered trust in a different way than I understood.
Then Diane provided another message from Victor:
KEEP HARPER QUIET UNTIL MIA IS GONE.
Claire had replied:
DONE.
She wasn’t merely obeying in panic.
She was participating.
Then Claire whispered:
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Victor didn’t come alone.”
I looked at her.
“Who was with him?”
She closed her eyes.
“Your brother’s former driver.”
A man named Samuel Crowe.
May you like
The same man who disappeared after Adrian died.
📖 Victor brought Adrian’s vanished driver into my house the night Mia disappeared, and Samuel knew what really happened during my brother’s final months. 👇
