Chapter 1 - THE WOMAN IN WHITE
Daniel’s mouth tightened.
“Don’t make this uglier than it already is.”
Claire looked at him for several seconds.
Then she bent down and lifted her mother’s broken portrait.
A shard of glass sliced her thumb.
Blood appeared immediately.
Sabrina took one step down.
“Claire, your hand.”
“Don’t.”
Sabrina stopped.
Claire pulled the moving clipboard from the man beneath the chandelier.
The work order was addressed to Sabrina Cole.
Master suite.
East dressing room.
Blue guest room.
“Who authorized this?”
The mover pointed at Daniel.
Daniel exhaled.
“I live here too.”
“No.”
The word was quiet.
“You married me here. You slept here. You hosted clients here. You never owned this house.”
Sabrina folded her arms.
“Claire, nobody is trying to steal your house.”
“You’re moving a sofa into my bedroom.”
“Our bedroom,” Daniel said.
Claire looked at him.
That was the moment something inside her stopped pleading.
She called the estate manager.
“Martin, stop all moving activity at Whitmore House. Nobody removes or installs anything without my written approval.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You can’t treat me like an employee.”
“I wouldn’t. My employees have contracts.”
His face changed.
Good.
Claire handed the movers cash for their time and told them to leave the sofa in the hall.
Sabrina’s cheeks reddened.
“You’re humiliating us.”
Claire picked up her suitcase.
“No, Sabrina. I came home. You supplied the rest.”
She walked toward the library.
Daniel followed.
“Where are you going?”
“To call counsel.”
“For what?”
Claire stopped at the library door.
“My marriage.”
Then she looked at Sabrina.
“And to find out why my best friend thought she could move into my mother’s room before I was even divorced.”
Sabrina’s expression flickered.
Not guilt.
Fear.
Claire saw it.
May you like
And suddenly the affair was no longer the only thing she wanted explained.
