Chapter 11 - The Woman Who Brought FlowersThree days after Claire woke up, a woman came to the hospital carrying yellow tulips.
She looked too polished for grief. Perfect hair. Cream coat. Diamond earrings. A smile practiced in mirrors.
The guard outside Claire’s room stopped her.
“Family only.”
The woman’s smile did not change. “Tell Claire that Elise is here.”
Inside the room, Claire heard the name and went rigid.
Noah noticed. “Who’s Elise?”
Claire looked toward the door as if the past itself had knocked.
“Daniel’s ex-wife.”
Noah stared. “Daniel was married?”
Claire closed her eyes. “He told me she died.”
Elise laughed when Detective Sloane said the same thing five minutes later.
“Of course he did. Daniel kills women socially before he tries anything physical.”
Elise was allowed inside under police supervision.
She placed the flowers on the windowsill and looked at Claire for a long moment.
“I warned the hospital,” she said. “I called twice when I saw your obituary.”
Claire’s lips parted. “You knew?”
“I knew Daniel. That was enough.”
Elise explained that Daniel had married her fifteen years earlier when she inherited a manufacturing company from her father. Within two years, she was isolated from friends, diagnosed with “stress-induced paranoia,” and nearly forced into signing over control.
“What saved you?” Noah asked.
“My brother,” Elise said. “He broke into my house and found me drugged in bed. Daniel claimed I had tried to hurt myself.”
Claire looked away, tears sliding into her hair.
Elise’s voice softened. “Don’t blame yourself. He studies what women need, then becomes it.”
Detective Sloane asked, “Why didn’t he go to prison?”
Elise’s smile turned bitter. “Money. Lawyers. My family wanted privacy. Daniel disappeared with enough settlement cash to become someone else.”
She removed a folder from her bag.
“I kept what I could.”
Inside were old photos, bank records, medical reports, and one name that appeared again and again.
Dr. Victor Hale.
Claire recognized it.
“He was Daniel’s private physician.”
Elise nodded. “And mine.”
Sloane’s eyes sharpened.
Elise leaned toward Claire.
“I don’t think Daniel ran because he’s afraid.”
Noah frowned. “Then why?”
“Because he still needs something from you.”
Claire’s hand moved instinctively to her throat.
Her necklace was gone.
The locket Daniel had given her.
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Inside it, hidden behind a fake photo, was the access key to her foundation’s offshore audit account.
And Daniel knew it.
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