Chapter 5 - The House Rules
Jack read the message twice.
Then he handed the phone to Dana without touching anything else.
“Photograph the screen. Isolate the device.”
Ethan rolled his eyes. “You’re acting like this is a crime scene.”
Claire turned on him.
“You grabbed my wrist, dragged me out of the study, and told me I was not leaving this house until I gave you my passcode.”
“I was stopping you from stealing.”
“You picked up that belt.”
“I never hit you.”
The words landed differently than he intended.
No one had accused him of hitting her.
Not yet.
Jack stepped closer.
Ethan’s mouth closed.
Margaret moved between them. “This has become absurd. Claire has been under stress for months. Her mother’s foundation, her birthday, the board transition—”
Claire stared at her.
“You knew about the board transition?”
Margaret blinked.
Jack caught that too.
The Mercer Foundation’s succession schedule was not public.
Only the board, Jack, and Claire knew the details.
At least that was what Jack had believed.
Claire laughed softly, without humor.
“Of course you knew.”
She walked back toward the foyer.
Jack followed.
On the way, she pointed to a narrow console table beneath a portrait of Ethan at twenty-one.
“There,” she said.
“What?”
“The house rules.”
Jack looked at the drawer.
Claire opened it.
Inside were three labeled trays.
CAR KEYS.
DEVICES.
MEDICATION.
Jack stared.
Claire’s voice dropped. “After I moved in, Margaret said staff had been stealing. She wanted everyone to leave their keys in the tray at night. Then Ethan started saying it was safer if I did too.”
Jack looked at her.
“You gave them your car keys?”
“At first.”
“And your phone?”
“Sometimes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Claire’s eyes filled, but she did not look away.
“Because every rule came with a reason. And every reason sounded normal when I heard it one at a time.”
Jack felt anger rise, then forced it back down. This was not the moment to ask why she had stayed. It was the moment to listen.
Claire reached beneath the lowest tray.
Her fingers found tape.
She peeled loose a tiny silver object.
A memory card.
Ethan appeared in the doorway.
May you like
For the first time since Jack arrived, he looked scared.
“Claire,” he said. “Give me that.”
