Five years earlier, she had walked away from John because she was afraid. Afraid of his wealth, his world, the certainty that one day he would look at her and realize she did not belong in it. Derek had appeared at exactly the right moment—charming, ordinary, easy to understand. He had made John seem intimidating and distant. He had made himself seem safe.
The safety had lasted months.
The control had lasted years.
At first, Derek’s abuse had been easy to excuse. A grip too hard on her wrist. An accusation of flirting. A demand that she quit her job because he wanted to “take care of her.” Then came the isolation. The financial dependence. The monitoring. The insults. The first slap. The tears and apologies afterward. The promises. The calm days that made her believe the bad days were temporary.
By the second year of marriage, Clare was no longer making choices. She was managing a minefield.
By the third, she was lying for him.
By the fourth, she had once whispered the word divorce and ended up beaten badly enough to spend a week in bed.
By the fifth, she was pregnant and terrified.
Derek had not wanted the baby. He had called it a trap. He had accused her of trying to tie him down. Yet when Clare told him she was pregnant, he changed suddenly—became attentive, affectionate, full of plans. She let herself hope. She wanted to believe he had softened.
Then she discovered the truth.
Fifty thousand dollars in gambling debt.
A mistress he had been seeing for two years.
A life insurance policy on Clare worth a million dollars in the event of an accidental death.
And on Christmas morning, after his mother left and the apartment was quiet, Derek had dragged Clare toward the open balcony door and told her he could solve everything in one move.
Then he pushed her.
By the next day, Derek was arrested.
By the day after that, he had made bail.
Barbara put up her house without hesitation and went on television to announce that her son was innocent, that Clare was unstable, that the fall was a suicide attempt, and that now—conveniently—she had landed on the car of her billionaire ex-boyfriend.
The story spread like wildfire.
Some people believed Clare.
Some called her a liar.
Leave a Comment