Chapter 8 - Margaret Reveals Why She Wanted Claire Gone
Margaret finally asked to speak with Claire alone.
Nathan remained nearby.
Margaret looked exhausted.
“I needed you out before you saw the books.”
Claire said nothing.
Margaret admitted she knew the marriage was ending.
Ethan told her about Vanessa months earlier.
Margaret did not approve of the affair at first.
Then she learned Vanessa was pregnant.
She decided protecting her future grandchild mattered more than Claire.
That was how she justified everything.
The lock change.
The packed clothes.
The $2,500.
The pressure to leave.
But there was another reason.
Margaret feared divorce discovery.
If Claire’s attorneys examined Morgan Development, they would find MRC
Advisory and the disguised loan.
“You thought if I took twenty-five hundred dollars, I’d waive
everything?”
Margaret looked embarrassed.
“I thought you’d be too humiliated to fight.”
Claire absorbed that.
Margaret had mistaken quietness for weakness.
Then Claire asked:
“Did Ethan know you impersonated me?”
Margaret hesitated.
“No.”
Claire watched her carefully.
“Did he know you were going to?”
“No.”
For once, Claire believed her.
Margaret had told Ethan she could arrange the home-equity funds because
Claire “would understand.”
Ethan chose not to verify.
That did not make him innocent.
It made him willfully convenient.
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He accepted money without asking the question that might have stopped
it.
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