Chapter 10 - RAYMOND SENDS PEOPLE
The Hayes family office tried to retrieve Claire's archive.
Not steal it.
Retrieve it.
Their lawyer sent a formal demand to the hotel and Victoria's estate counsel claiming the adoption records contained privileged family medical material and trust documents unrelated to Ethan.
That part was partly true.
The timing was awful.
Then two family-office employees arrived at Victoria's apartment building with written authorization from Raymond to collect sealed boxes from a storage room.
Victoria had not authorized access.
Building security refused.
She called Ethan's lawyer.
Not Ethan.
Good.
The dispute went to neutral counsel.
No midnight burglary.
No men in masks.
Just wealthy people weaponizing paperwork because paperwork had always obeyed them.
Ethan confronted Raymond in a law office.
“Why are you trying to take Claire's file?”
Raymond looked tired.
“There are documents in those boxes that have nothing to do with Sarah.”
“Such as?”
“Family trust correspondence.”
“Then identify it.”
“I did.”
“No. You demanded the whole archive.”
Raymond rubbed his temple.
“I reacted badly.”
“That family phrase must be embroidered somewhere.”
Raymond almost smiled.
Almost.
Then he stopped.
“Claire left more than adoption letters.”
“What?”
“Accusations.”
“Against who?”
“Me.”
That was why Raymond wanted the boxes controlled.
Claire had accused him in later journals of using money to push her toward adoption.
Raymond disputed the wording.
Did he threaten to cut off her apartment if she kept the baby?
Yes.
Did he later reverse that threat?
Yes.
Did Claire choose adoption after the reversal?
Also yes.
The history was ugly enough without simplifying it.
Raymond said:
“I was trying to keep a twenty-year-old from raising an infant in an apartment I knew she could not afford.”
Ethan answered:
“You were also making sure she knew the apartment depended on you.”
Raymond did not argue.
Then Ethan asked:
“Did you meet Sarah?”
“No.”
Again.
Same answer.
“Did Judith?”
Raymond looked away.
“I don't know.”
“Did you know Victoria planned to meet me?”
“No.”
“Did you know she was dating me?”
“After the third date.”
“What did you tell her?”
“To stop.”
“Why?”
Raymond looked at him.
“Because I knew if you discovered why she first approached you, you would never trust anything afterward.”
Ethan hated him for being correct.
Then Raymond added:
“And because Claire spent her entire life wanting access to Sarah. I was not going to let Victoria confuse that unfinished grief with entitlement to Sarah's child.”
That was unexpectedly reasonable.
It did not erase anything else.
Ethan asked:
“Then why did you hide your own contact with Sarah?”
Raymond's face closed.
“Because Sarah asked me to.”
“You keep using dead women as witnesses.”
That landed.
Raymond looked down.
“Fair.”
Then his lawyer received an email.
The neutral archive attorney had completed the inventory of Claire's letters.
Eight were listed.
Only seven plus the sealed eighth were physically present.
A ninth had existed.
Judith's index said:
CLAIRE TO SARAH — DELIVERED DIRECTLY
No date.
No recipient signature.
No copy.
Someone had successfully delivered one of Claire's letters.
Not through the adoption agency.
Directly.
The question changed again.
May you like
Who had delivered it?
And had Sarah received more from Claire's family than anyone admitted?
