The husband threw his wife and children out of the house, but his mistress followed them, gave the woman $10,000, and whispered in her ear: “Come back in three days… there will be a surprise for you…”

Claire reached for her phone. “I’m calling the police.”

“Go ahead,” he said. “But if your husband owes people money, police don’t fix that.”

Fear hit her like something physical.

She threw the car into reverse, backed out so hard Ethan shouted, and sped away.

In a grocery store parking lot she called 911. Then Naomi.

“Stay there,” Naomi said.

“You don’t get to order me—”

“If that was Derek, he wasn’t there to force anything in daylight. He wanted to see whether you were soft. Whether you were alone.”

“He saw my children.”

“I know.”

That night Naomi came to the house in the rain. Claire opened the door but didn’t invite her in.

“Why are you here?”

“Because they sent Derek,” Naomi said. “And Derek doesn’t ask questions unless he’s been given room to act.”

Claire saw then how tired Naomi really looked. Older than she had first seemed. Beautiful in the dangerous way of someone who had gone too long without softness. There was a fading bruise near her wrist.

“What does he want?”

“To know whether Ryan left anything hidden. Cash. Accounts. Documents.”

“He didn’t.”

“I know. Derek doesn’t believe women on front porches.”

Then Claire asked the question she had been circling for days.