“But I don’t forgive you.”
His face crumpled. “Claire—”
“You stood there. You watched. You said nothing. You let her hurt me. You let her accuse me. You let your family treat me like I was nothing. And you did nothing.”
“I was scared.”
“So was I. But I didn’t have a choice. You did. You chose silence.”
The officer stepped forward. “Ma’am, we’re going to need to take statements. From all of you.”
I nodded. “I’ll give mine. But first, I need to make a call.”
I called my lawyer. Her name was Diane. She had been my father’s lawyer before she was mine. She answered on the first ring.
“Claire? What’s wrong?”
“I need you to file for divorce. And I need you to freeze every account with Daniel’s name on it.”
“What happened?”
“I’ll explain everything. But right now, I need you to move fast.”
“I’m on it.”
She hung up.
Daniel was still standing in the middle of the kitchen. His mother was on the floor. The police were taking statements. The security footage was still playing. The wedding ring was still lying beside his feet.
I walked past him. I didn’t look at him. I walked out the front door.
The next few weeks were a blur.
The investigation revealed everything. Daniel’s father had faked his death six years earlier to escape fraud charges. He had been living in Florida under a fake name. He had been running a network of shell companies. He had been laundering money through accounts in Daniel’s name. Daniel’s mother had known. She had helped. She had been sending money to Florida for years.
