Chapter 6 - DANIEL’S OFFER
Claire did not open the door.
Daniel knocked again.
“I know you’re inside.”
Emily reached for her phone.
Claire shook her head and opened the security-camera speaker instead.
“What do you want?”
Daniel looked directly at the lens.
“To talk to my wife.”
“You can talk from there.”
His smile disappeared.
“I brought something that belongs to Noah.”
He held up the injector.
Claire’s stomach turned.
“Why did you take it?”
“I didn’t.”
“The camera shows you.”
“You’re misunderstanding what you saw.”
Claire almost smiled.
That sentence.
It had built their marriage.
You misunderstood.
You’re too emotional.
That isn’t what happened.
I never said that.
My mother was joking.
You always make things bigger.
The phrases had formed invisible walls around Claire for years.
Now they sounded pathetic.
“Leave.”
Daniel leaned closer to the camera.
“You think Sarah Lin can protect you?”
Claire’s expression changed.
She had never told him Sarah was there.
“How do you know Sarah is representing me?”
Daniel paused.
Too long.
Claire noticed.
Emily noticed too.
Claire asked, “Who told you?”
“No one.”
“Daniel.”
“You’re still my wife.”
“Who told you?”
His jaw tightened.
Then he changed direction.
“I came to give you a chance.”
“A chance for what?”
“To stop.”
Rain tapped against the windows behind Claire.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Withdraw the accusation.”
“No.”
“Tell police Mom thought the dessert was safe.”
“No.”
“Tell them I removed the second injector because it was expired.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Then say you were mistaken.”
“No.”
Daniel stared into the lens.
“The custody petition disappears.”
Claire laughed softly.
“You really thought that would frighten me.”
“It should.”
“You tried to turn our child’s allergy into evidence against me.”
“You can’t prove that.”
Claire stopped smiling.
“Maybe not yet.”
Daniel’s face changed.
He held the injector closer to the camera.
“You want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“You made this necessary.”
Claire felt Emily move closer behind her.
Daniel continued.
“My mother has spent years watching you turn Noah into a frightened little extension of yourself.”
“He has a life-threatening allergy.”
“He has an allergy.”
“He stopped breathing.”
“Because you panicked everyone.”
Claire stared at him.
There it was.
Even now.
Even after an ambulance.
Even after oxygen.
Daniel needed reality to bend.
“You’re sick.”
Daniel laughed once.
“No.”
“I’m tired.”
“Of what?”
“Living in a house where every decision becomes Claire’s decision because Claire has another fear.”
He stepped closer.
“No peanuts.”
“No restaurants.”
“No travel without medication.”
“No school unless the nurse has a plan.”
“Do you hear yourself?”
Claire whispered.
“Yes.”
“I hear a father who wants his life back.”
“You risked Noah’s life because safety was inconvenient?”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“We knew you would have an injector.”
Claire stopped breathing.
Emily covered her mouth.
Daniel realized what he had said.
Too late.
Claire looked directly at the camera.
“We?”
Daniel stepped backward.
Claire whispered, “Thank you.”
His expression changed.
“For what?”
“For confessing on video.”
Daniel lunged toward the camera.
May you like
Emily had already called police.
---
