Chapter 11: The Mistress’s Betrayal
Olivia called Claire again at 7:40 p.m.
This time, Claire answered on the first ring.
“I’m done,” Olivia said immediately. Her voice was shaking. “I’m done protecting him. He’s been lying to me too. He told me the money was clean. He told me you wouldn’t fight back. He told me we would be fine.”
Claire said nothing.
“I have more,” Olivia continued. “I have emails between him and his accountant. I have messages where he talks about what to do if the FBI gets involved. He was planning to leave the country if things went bad. He was going to leave me behind too.”
Claire finally spoke.
“Why should I believe you now?”
“Because I’m scared,” Olivia said. “And because I know when I’ve lost. He’s going to try to blame everything on me. I’m not going to prison for him.”
There was a long silence.
“I’ll send everything I have to your lawyer,” Olivia said. “Tonight. Just… tell them I cooperated. Please.”
Claire looked out the window at the dark street.
“Send it,” she said. “But don’t expect mercy. You made your choices.”
After the call ended, Claire sat at the kitchen table for a long time.
Victor was falling apart. Olivia was turning on him to save herself. The FBI was moving. The company had already cut him off.
Everything Claire had spent six months preparing for was now happening exactly as she had planned.
She should have felt satisfied.
Instead, she felt strangely hollow.
She had won.
But winning had cost her something she could never get back — the version of herself that had once believed love was supposed to be enough.
Claire stood up and turned off the kitchen light.
Tomorrow, she would meet with Margaret and the FBI again.
May you like
Tonight, she would allow herself to feel the weight of everything she had done.
And everything she had lost.
