Chapter 6
Daniel called all morning.
I did not answer.
Then he showed up at Clara’s apartment with flowers.
Cheap flowers from a gas station.
Clara opened the door with the chain still on.
“Leave.”
“Clara, I need to talk to my wife.”
“She said leave.”
I heard his voice crack.
“Emily, please.”
I walked to the door.
His face was pale.
His eyes were red.
For a moment, I saw the man I married.
Then I saw him beside the fireplace, arms crossed, watching his mother drag me across tile.
“What do you want?”
“I didn’t know Mom was going to frame you.”
“But you knew she would hurt me.”
He looked down.
“I thought if you apologized, she would stop.”
“That is not protection.”
“I know.”
“No,” I said. “You know now because there are consequences.”
He flinched.
Lydia arrived before he could answer.
“Daniel, you need to leave.”
He looked at her.
“Who are you?”
“Emily’s attorney.”
His face hardened.
“You’re making this legal?”
Lydia smiled coldly.
“Your mother made it criminal.”
Daniel’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Mom.
He hesitated.
Then declined it.
Too late.
But I noticed.
He whispered, “She has something on all of us.”
Clara stiffened.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel’s eyes filled with fear.
“She kept files. Recordings. Documents. If anyone crossed her, she threatened to ruin them.”
Lydia leaned in.
“Where are the files?”
Daniel swallowed.
“In the old wine cellar.”
Clara went white.
“Our childhood house?”
He nodded.
“Dad doesn’t know.”
I stared at him.
“And now you tell us?”
May you like
He looked at me.
“Because Mom called Martin. She told him to clean it out tonight.”
