Chapter 2 - THE CALL AT 8:03 A.M.
At 8:03 the next morning, Daniel’s phone rang.
I know the exact time because my attorney, Rebecca Sloan, called me first.
“You ready?”
I was sitting in a private hospital room with Noah asleep beside me.
His small hand was wrapped around my finger.
His breathing had finally returned to normal.
The doctor had kept him overnight for observation.
I had not slept.
Not one minute.
“Do it,” I said.
Rebecca was quiet for half a second.
Then she said, “I’ve been waiting three years for you to say that.”
She called Daniel.
Later, she told me exactly how it went.
Daniel answered sounding irritated.
“Who is this?”
“Rebecca Sloan. I represent Claire Hawthorne.”
Silence.
Then Daniel laughed.
“My wife doesn’t have a lawyer.”
“She does now.”
“What is this about?”
“Several things.”
“I’m listening.”
“First, Claire is formally separating from you.”
Another silence.
Longer this time.
Then Daniel scoffed.
“She’ll calm down.”
“She won’t.”
“You don’t know my wife.”
Rebecca smiled when she repeated this part to me.
“I know my client very well.”
Daniel’s tone changed.
“Fine. What else?”
“Second, Claire is revoking your authority to act on her behalf in all personal and corporate matters.”
“What?”
“Third, your access to the Sterling-Hawthorne operating account has been suspended.”
Daniel stopped breathing for a moment.
“You can’t do that.”
“Claire can.”
“That account belongs to my company.”
“No, Mr. Hawthorne.”
Rebecca paused.
“It belongs to hers.”
That was when Margaret started screaming in the background.
“What does she mean?”
Daniel snapped, “Mother, give me a minute.”
Rebecca continued.
“Your corporate credit cards are frozen.”
“You’re bluffing.”
“Try one.”
A minute later, Daniel apparently tried.
Declined.
He cursed.
Rebecca did not react.
“The vehicle registered to Claire remains her sole property.”
Margaret shouted, “She stole Daniel’s Porsche!”
Rebecca replied calmly, “The Porsche is titled to Claire.”
“She bought it with family money!”
“No.”
Another pause.
“She bought it with proceeds from a company she founded before marrying your son.”
Daniel’s voice lowered.
“What exactly has Claire told you?”
“Enough.”
That word scared him.
Good.
But Rebecca wasn’t finished.
“Finally, we are documenting yesterday’s incident involving your son.”
Daniel’s voice sharpened.
“What incident?”
I felt rage rise in my chest when Rebecca told me that.
He already wanted to pretend it hadn’t happened.
“The intentional exposure of a three-year-old child to a known severe allergen.”
“My mother made a mistake.”
“She was warned repeatedly.”
“Claire is exaggerating.”
“There were twenty-three witnesses.”
Silence.
“And multiple phones recording.”
That part changed everything.
Neither Daniel nor Margaret had realized how many people had been filming the reunion.
Rebecca said she heard Daniel whisper, “Oh, shit.”
Then Margaret screamed in the background.
“This is blackmail!”
“No,” Rebecca said.
“This is documentation.”
Daniel came back to the phone.
“What does Claire want?”
Rebecca looked at me through the hospital room window while she told me later.
“She wants you to communicate through counsel.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“She wants temporary sole custody of Noah.”
His voice exploded.
“Absolutely not.”
“She also wants a protective order preventing your mother from having unsupervised contact with him.”
“My mother is not dangerous.”
Rebecca said nothing for a moment.
Then she asked, “Would you like me to send you the emergency room report?”
Daniel hung up.
At 8:11, he called me directly.
I watched his name flash across my phone.
I didn’t answer.
He called again.
Again.
Again.
Then the texts started.
CLAIRE PICK UP.
THIS HAS GONE TOO FAR.
YOU’RE DESTROYING OUR FAMILY.
CALL ME NOW.
Then another.
MY MOTHER DID NOT TRY TO HURT NOAH.
And finally:
YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE DOING.
I stared at the message.
Then Rebecca stepped into the room.
“There’s something else.”
I looked up.
Her face had changed.
“What?”
“We reviewed the corporate accounts last night.”
My stomach tightened.
“And?”
She closed the door.
“Daniel has been moving money.”
“How much?”
“Enough that we need to stop talking about divorce for a minute.”
I stood.
“Rebecca.”
May you like
She placed a folder on the table.
“Claire, your husband may have been stealing from you for over two years.”
