She walked to the jacket Daniel had left on the chair and reached into the pocket.
She found his phone.
“Hey!” Daniel sprang to his feet. “Give that back!”
But Claire had already unlocked the screen.
He had never changed his password.
She opened the messaging app.
The last conversation was with Margaret.
“Mom, I’m doing everything. Tell me again exactly what to say. Her eyes are already wet. I think she’s about to give in.”
Margaret’s reply read:
“Play on her sympathy, you idiot. Tell her you forgive her filthy language. The important thing is to make her sign the refinancing papers. Put her in our place. You’re her husband.”
Claire finished reading.
Then she looked up at Daniel.
He stood before her with a white face and his mouth slightly open.
“You…”
“Yes. Me.”
Claire placed the phone inside the desk drawer.
“You know, Daniel, I once truly believed you were simply confused. I thought you were a victim of your mother. I even felt sorry for you. But now I understand—you are not a victim. You are her willing accomplice. You handed me over to her because you wanted to remain beneath your mother’s wing.”
Claire sat in the single chair and folded her hands in her lap.
“Fine. I’ll agree to meet and discuss everything. Come tomorrow with your mother. We’ll draw up a settlement.”
Hope flashed across Daniel’s face.
“Really?”
“Really.”
Claire smiled.
“Now leave.”
He went almost cheerfully.
Claire waited until his footsteps faded down the stairs.
Then she called Rachel.
“They’re coming together. Arrange for a notary and a police officer. We’re taking them both down.”
There was a short silence on the other end.
“Are you certain?” Rachel asked seriously.
“Completely. I have the bank statements, the receipts, Helen’s testimony, and the correspondence with the estate agent. And today I received a reply from Dublin. Margaret forged the signature on the guardianship documents. This is now a criminal matter.”
Rachel gave a low whistle.
“Good girl. I’ll be there tomorrow at six.”
“Fine.”
Claire ended the call and looked out the window.
The rain had stopped.
The clouds over the city were beginning to break.
The next evening, exactly at six, someone knocked.
Claire opened the door.
Daniel and Margaret stood on the threshold.
Margaret carried herself with her usual arrogance.
But she could not hide the anxiety in her eyes.
Daniel nervously twisted one of the buttons on his jacket.
“Come in,” Claire said, stepping aside.
Three glasses and a bottle of the cheapest lemonade stood on the table.
Claire took the chair and gestured for them to sit.
Margaret looked around the room with open contempt.
“You invited us to this dump?”
“I did not invite you to discuss the furniture,” Claire answered calmly. “Sit down.”
They sat.
Claire placed a folder on the table.
“Inside,” she said, tapping the cover, “is the jewelry receipt, bank statements, witness testimony, and the most interesting document of all—a specialist’s conclusion that Daniel’s guardianship papers were forged. The evidence came from Dublin.”
Margaret went instantly pale.
“What nonsense is this?”
“It isn’t nonsense.”
Claire opened the folder.
“Here is a copy of the court decision regarding the guardianship. Your signature was determined to be forged. The expert report is attached.”
Margaret snatched up the page and scanned it rapidly.
Her fingers began to shake.
“Where did you get this?”
“You left too many traces,” Claire replied with a shrug. “When you searched my apartment, you apparently assumed I kept everything only on paper. The copies were stored in the cloud. And when you threatened Elaine, you made the threats in writing. It was incredibly arrogant to assume she would never save them.”
Margaret slowly sank into her chair.
She seemed to age before Claire’s eyes.
“You don’t understand,” she whispered. “I gave my entire life to that boy. I only wanted what was best for him. I became his mother. That… that alcoholic woman abandoned him!”
“She did not abandon him,” Claire said. “You told her her baby had died. Then you paid her for years to keep quiet. You made sure Daniel never received her letters. She spent nearly thirty years searching for her son. You raised him like a frightened puppy, teaching him that you could throw him away at any moment.”
Claire looked at Daniel.
He sat pale as the wall, his fists tightly clenched.
“As for you,” she continued, “you are an adult man. From now on, you can pay for your mother’s diamonds yourself. I’d rather get a cat. At least animals are honest.”
Daniel shot to his feet.
“Claire, wait! We can solve this! We can make an agreement! I’ll leave her! I—”
“Sit down.”
Claire’s voice was so sharp that he obeyed.
She pushed several pages across the table.
“This is the settlement. You return my money in full. Thirty-eight thousand dollars. Margaret also returns every piece of jewelry stolen from my safe. You have one week. If the money and property are not returned within seven days, I file the report. Considering the forged guardianship documents, the consequences could be severe—for you, Margaret, and for you, Daniel, if investigators decide you were involved in the financial fraud.”