Chapter 9 - The Reopening
Before the week ended, Claire did something she had avoided for half a year. She drove to the minimum-security federal facility in upstate New York to visit Ryan.
He sat behind the glass partition, wearing a faded orange jumpsuit. He looked older, his hair thinning, the arrogant posture of a wealthy medical executive completely gone.
"Thanks for coming, Claire," Ryan said through the intercom. "My lawyer says my sentence might be reduced to three years because of the cooperation."
"I didn't come to talk about your sentence, Ryan," Claire said calmly. "I came to give you these."
She slid a manila envelope into the document slot beneath the glass. Inside were the final, absolute divorce decrees, signed and stamped by the state supreme court.
Ryan looked at the papers, a single tear running down his cheek. "I really did love you, Claire. In the beginning. Before the money and before my mother got into my head."
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"Love doesn't watch someone burn, Ryan," Claire said, standing up from the chair. "I hope you find a way to live with what you didn't do. Goodbye."
She walked out of the visitor's center into the crisp autumn air, the weight of the Whitmore family finally falling from her shoulders like ash.
