Chapter 11 - The Price of Staying Alive
Claire demanded to enter the interrogation room.
Cole refused at first.
Then Claire threatened to leave the station and speak publicly.
Five minutes later, she was sitting across from Julian.
No chandeliers.
No expensive audience.
Just a scratched metal table between them.
Julian stared at her.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
Claire almost smiled.
“You don’t get to decide where I should be anymore.”
Julian looked older than he had in the hotel.
“Claire.”
“Why?”
He looked down.
“Why what?”
“Why destroy me?”
His silence lasted too long.
Claire leaned forward.
“I paid debts you created.”
“I know.”
“I sold my grandmother’s house.”
“I know.”
“I worked double shifts.”
“I know.”
“I cried over an empty coffin.”
Julian closed his eyes.
Claire’s voice broke.
“And you knew.”
“Yes.”
That single word shattered whatever tiny piece of her still remembered him as the man she married.
Julian opened his eyes.
“I thought if you had nothing connected to me, they would leave you alone.”
Claire stared.
“You could have told me.”
“No.”
“You could have taken me with you.”
“No.”
“You could have gone to the police.”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“You think people like Richard keep one police department on the payroll?”
Cole, standing against the wall, said nothing.
Julian continued.
“I discovered what he was doing.”
“You joined him.”
“At first.”
Claire swallowed the disgust rising in her throat.
Julian did not deny it.
“I helped move money.”
“How much?”
“Hundreds of millions.”
Vanessa, watching through the glass, turned away.
Julian looked at Claire.
“Then I found out where some of it came from.”
“Where?”
“Trafficking.”
Claire went still.
“Weapons.”
His voice lowered.
“People.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Julian continued.
“I tried to leave.”
“By faking your death?”
“Richard offered me a way out if I completed one final transfer.”
Claire knew there would be more.
“There always is.”
Julian nodded.
“The transfer was tied to Hawthorne’s European acquisitions.”
“And after that?”
“I was supposed to disappear permanently.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Julian looked ashamed.
“Vanessa.”
Claire stared at him.
“You fell in love?”
Julian said nothing.
That silence answered.
Claire stood.
For some reason, this betrayal hurt differently.
Julian reached toward her.
“Claire.”
She stepped back.
“Don’t.”
He lowered his hand.
Claire walked to the door.
Then Julian spoke.
“Richard has another file.”
She stopped.
“A physical ledger.”
Cole moved closer.
“Where?”
Julian looked at Claire.
“It contains every account, every payment, every name.”
“Where is it?”
Julian swallowed.
“I hid it before I faked my death.”
Claire turned.
“Where?”
May you like
His answer made her blood run cold.
“In our old house.”
