To strip her shares from the company.
To finalize everything before filing for divorce.
There was even a date.
A closing date.
A deal scheduled to be signed in Zurich.
Claire didn’t cry.
She didn’t confront him.
She didn’t ask questions.
Claire prepared.
Back in the airport…
Ten minutes after Ethan and Sophia had boarded first class…
An airline employee approached her.
“Mrs. Claire Brooks?” he said politely.
She looked up.
“Yes.”
He handed her a new boarding pass.
“Here you are. Seat 2A.”
Claire stood.
Picked up her carry-on.
And walked toward the plane with quiet confidence—not the kind that demands attention, but the kind that doesn’t need permission to exist.
When she entered the first-class cabin, Ethan saw her.
And for the first time that day…
something in his expression broke.
The certainty.
The control.
The assumption that he had already won.
Claire didn’t look at him.
Not even for a second.
She walked past.
Sat down in seat 2A.
Opened a folder in her lap.
Papers neatly arranged.
Prepared.
A flight attendant leaned toward the front row.
“Ms. Carter, is there anything you need before takeoff?”
That name shifted the air inside the cabin.
Margaret Carter.