Claire and Nicholas After Divorce novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: The Suitcase

My father sat on a single suitcase in the middle of the tower lobby.

The marble floor stretched out around him, white and empty.

The night guard stood at the far desk and pretended to read.

Gerald had no tie on, and no coat, and his white dinner jacket from Saturday had a wine stain down the front.

He looked up when I came in.

"Claire."

I had left Nicholas in the car at the curb.

I walked across the floor and stopped six feet away.

"They've frozen my accounts," Gerald said. "The prosecutors have taken the hard drives. My club has asked for my resignation by letter. I called half a dozen men this evening, and not one of them picked up."

"I know."

"You know?"

"The consulting fee," I said. "Audrey sent the file to the state's attorney on Sunday. I signed it."

He stared.

"My own daughter."

"Yes."

For a moment the old force came back into his face.

I had spent my whole childhood bending to it.

Then it slid away, and he was only a tired man of sixty-three on a suitcase.

"I need a room," he said. "Only for a few days. Until my lawyer finds something."

"You have lawyers."

"They want a retainer."

"Then you'll understand how it felt," I said, "when my mother needed a lawyer and you had hired them all."

He flinched.

I had expected to feel glad.

I felt only a dull, steady grief.

"Claire. I made mistakes."

"You made a company out of my mother's work, and put her out of it. You destroyed a man's firm to get at her shares. You wrote a letter to his deathbed and offered him a price. You paid a student to stand in front of cameras and lie about a baby."

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