Claire looked at him for a long time.

“No,” she said. “You loved the version of me that made your life easy.”

The truth landed brutally.

Ryan had loved the quiet wife who cooked, smiled, supported his family’s events, and never demanded too much. He had not loved the soldier, the survivor, or the woman with a history deeper than his pride.

Claire turned slightly toward her father.

“Did you show him the file?”

“Yes,” Bennett said.

Ryan’s stomach tightened.

Claire looked back at him.

“Then you know part of the truth.”

“Part?”

Her eyes sharpened.

“My assignment began with your family’s company. But it didn’t end there.”

Ryan shook his head.

“Claire, I swear I never knew about any illegal network.”

“I wanted to believe that.”

“Then believe me now.”

“I did believe you,” she whispered. “That is why I sealed the report.”

Ryan’s breath caught.

“You sealed it?”

“I wrote that you might be innocent. I wrote that your mother controlled the accounts. I wrote that you were arrogant and careless, but possibly unaware.”

He could barely look at her.

“But after what happened,” Claire continued, “my father reopened everything.”

Ryan looked at General Bennett.

The general’s face was stone.

Claire’s voice dropped lower.

“And they found something I missed.”