Chapter 11 - The Affidavit
Claire slowly lowered the phone.
Thomas was still sitting across from her.
“Did you sign an affidavit declaring me mentally unstable?”
His face changed.
“Claire.”
“Yes or no?”
“It wasn’t supposed to be filed.”
She almost laughed.
“You signed it.”
“Diane told me it was a protective measure.”
“What did it say?”
Thomas looked away.
“That you had become erratic after discovering family information.”
“You mean the truth.”
“She said you might liquidate the trust impulsively.”
Claire stared at him.
“You just confessed that Diane drugged Evelyn before her crash.”
Thomas’s voice broke.
“I was going to withdraw the affidavit.”
“When?”
“Today.”
“It was filed this morning.”
Thomas stood.
“I’ll call the lawyer.”
“You will call no one.”
Claire backed toward the door.
“You will speak to Naomi.”
“Claire, please.”
“You want to help me?”
“Yes.”
“Tell the truth once without calculating what it costs you.”
She left.
At nine thirty, Naomi explained the emergency petition.
Diane and Julian wanted a temporary conservator appointed over the trust.
If granted, Claire’s voting control would be suspended.
The proposed conservator was Julian.
“Can they win?”
Claire asked.
“Temporarily?”
Naomi nodded.
“Possibly.”
“Based on what?”
“Thomas’s affidavit.”
“Anything else?”
Naomi slid another document across the table.
Paige had submitted one too.
Claire read it.
Paige described her as paranoid.
Emotionally volatile.
Obsessed with a conspiracy involving their mother.
She claimed Claire had threatened Julian.
None of it was true.
But every lie was built around something that had happened.
Claire had discovered family secrets.
Claire had confronted Paige.
Claire had refused to sign documents.
They were turning her resistance into evidence of instability.
The strategy was elegant.
That made Claire hate Julian more.
“What do we do?”
Claire asked.
Naomi smiled faintly.
“We stop defending.”
Claire looked up.
“We attack the foundation.”
By noon, Martin had prepared petitions demanding a forensic audit of the trust.
Naomi documented undisclosed transfers.
Dr. Warren agreed to provide Evelyn’s medical records.
Thomas agreed to retract his affidavit and disclose Diane’s role in the medication switch.
Then Thomas disappeared.
At three seventeen, he stopped answering calls.
At four, his car was found at O’Hare.
At five, Claire received a text.
It came from Thomas’s number.
STOP DIGGING.
Claire called immediately.
The phone was off.
Naomi read the message.
“Could be Thomas.”
“It isn’t.”
“How do you know?”
“My father never writes in capital letters.”
Claire froze after saying the word father.
Despite everything, Thomas was still attached to that word inside her.
At six, hotel security footage showed Thomas entering the Halston Hotel.
He was not alone.
Paige walked beside him.
Claire stared at the image.
“Why would he meet her?”
Naomi zoomed in.
Thomas was carrying a leather folder.
Claire recognized it.
He had kept Evelyn’s original medical records inside.
The evidence connecting Diane to the medication switch.
Claire grabbed her coat.
Naomi blocked the door.
“You are not going there alone.”
“I’m not asking permission.”
“Good.”
Naomi picked up her own coat.
“Because I’m coming.”
They reached the Halston twenty minutes later.
Thomas’s car was still missing.
Paige’s was parked on level four.
Claire felt sick at the symmetry.
They found Paige near the service elevator.
She was alone.
Claire grabbed her arm.
“Where is Thomas?”
Paige pulled away.
“I don’t know.”
“You walked into this hotel with him.”
“He wanted to talk.”
“Where is he?”
Paige’s face crumpled.
“For once, Claire, I’m not lying.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
Paige looked toward the elevator.
“He gave me the file.”
“Why?”
“He said I deserved to know what Mom had done.”
“And then?”
Paige whispered, “He went upstairs to confront her.”
Claire’s blood went cold.
“Diane is here?”
May you like
Paige nodded.
“Room 1908.”
