Chapter 20 - CLAIRE'S FINAL MESSAGE
Claire appeared on the screen in her office, alive and trying not to look afraid.
“Daniel, if you are watching this, something went wrong.”
Her sad smile crossed thirteen months as if they were nothing.
“Vanessa fooled you because some of her lies were comfortable. She said I was unstable. She said I abandoned Noah. You wanted to believe her because belief meant you didn't have to choose.”
Daniel lowered his eyes.
“Perfect proof does not exist,” Claire continued. “Sometimes loving someone means acting before certainty arrives.”
Her voice broke when she spoke to Noah.
“I did not leave you. Every foolish, frightening thing I did was an attempt to get back to you.”
Noah stood in the doorway, tears running silently down his face.
Then Claire held up a childhood copy of Treasure Island.
“The ledger is where Noah first learned that maps can lie.”
The video ended.
Noah wiped his face. “Grandpa's library.”
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Daniel remembered reading that book to him beside a painted globe.
Inside the globe was a false ocean.
