The fire crackled softly in the living room, its warmth filling the room, but Claire felt none of it. The photograph in her hands—her father shaking hands with Robert Calloway—was more than just a relic of the past. It was a weapon, meticulously chosen to destabilize her, to dredge up old wounds she thought she’d buried long ago.
The words scrawled on the back, “Like father, like daughter,” echoed in her mind, a cruel insinuation that she, too, was destined to fail, to lose everything she cared about. For a brief moment, she considered tearing the photo apart, but she stopped herself. Destroying it wouldn’t erase the truth—or the questions it raised.
She set the photograph on the coffee table and pulled her laptop closer, determined to find answers. If Robert wanted to rattle her, he’d s
