PART 5
I pulled out my phone.
My first instinct was to call Julian.
I almost did.
Then I remembered Rebecca.
I wouldn’t tell Julian about this call.
So I didn’t.
Instead, I called someone else.
My older sister, Natalie.
She answered on the fourth ring.
“Claire?”
I couldn’t speak.
“Claire, are you okay?”
I looked at the envelope on my lap.
“No.”
“What happened?”
“I need a lawyer.”
There was silence.
Then Natalie said, “What did Julian do?”
I swallowed.
“I think my husband has been planning to destroy my life.”
Natalie didn’t ask questions.
She simply said, “I’ll find you one.”
That afternoon, I sat across from attorney Daniel Mercer in a small conference room.
Natalie sat beside me.
I placed the envelope on the table.
Daniel didn’t touch anything immediately.
He listened.
I told him everything.
The German. Sophie.
The pregnancy.
The property.
The fertility records.
The eleven business trips.
When I finished, he sat back.
“Claire, before we go any further, I need you to understand something.”
“What?”
“You don’t confront your husband.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“You don’t tell his family you know German.”
“I won’t.”
“You don’t threaten Sophie.”
“I don’t even know where she is.”
“Good.”
He looked at the documents again.
“Because whatever is happening here, you need to find out the full picture before Julian realizes you’ve discovered it.”
I nodded.
Daniel picked up the property agreement.
“This signature is interesting.”
“What about it?”
“Julian has no authority to transfer your lake house.”
I stared at him.
“Are you sure?”
“If your father left the property to you individually, it’s yours.”
“It is.”
“Then this document may be unenforceable.”
I let out a shaky breath.
“But why would he sign it?”
Daniel looked at me.
“That is the question.”
Natalie leaned forward.
“What do you think?”
“I think,” Daniel said slowly, “that your husband believes he has more control over your assets than he actually does.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because someone has been giving him that impression.”
He opened the fertility document.
“And this worries me more.”
“Why?”
“Because medical decisions involving your reproductive material are extremely sensitive. We need to find out exactly what he did, when he did it, and whether he had any legal authority to do it.”
I stared at him.
“What do I do?”
Daniel folded his hands.
“Tonight, you go home.”
My stomach turned.
“You want me to go back to him?”
“For now.”
“Why?”
“Because if Julian thinks everything is normal, he may continue behaving normally.”
“And if he knows I know?”
“He’ll start cleaning up.”
The words chilled me.
“Cleaning up what?”
“Evidence.”
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