Chapter 6 - THE FAMILY BUSINESS CAME FIRST
Aster Vale suspended the field program.
Not publicly.
Internally.
All participating households were contacted and instructed to stop using the modules.
Claire insisted the message disclose that abnormal heating had occurred.
Evelyn objected.
The board overruled her after company counsel intervened.
That was the first visible crack in Evelyn’s control.
She blamed Claire.
Not directly.
Through Daniel.
“Mom thinks you’ve turned a manageable product issue into a crisis.”
Claire almost laughed when he told her.
“A device flashed beside our baby.”
“She knows that.”
“Does she?”
Daniel was quiet.
Claire stopped expecting him to defend her.
That helped.
The more serious cost came from the marriage.
Daniel moved into a furnished apartment in Stamford.
Claire remained with Rebecca.
They created a temporary parenting schedule through attorneys.
Daniel saw Noah several times each week.
No Aster Vale devices came with him.
Claire documented everything without turning every visit into an interrogation.
The arrangement felt clinical.
It was also the safest their relationship had felt in months.
Then loyalty shifted.
Evelyn’s younger brother, Thomas, called Claire.
He sat on Aster Vale’s board.
They had never been close.
“I should have called earlier.”
Claire waited.
“The board didn’t know infants were being used in executive-family pilots.”
“Used?”
“That sounded worse than I meant.”
“It sounded accurate.”
Thomas sighed.
He explained that the board believed the field program involved employee volunteers recruited through normal processes.
They did not know Daniel had enrolled Noah after Claire’s objection.
They also did not know executives had approved exceptions after the engineering hold.
“Your sister knew,” Claire said.
“Yes.”
“And Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“Who else?”
“We’re reviewing that.”
Claire had learned to hate that sentence.
Thomas continued.
“There’s pressure for Evelyn to step aside temporarily.”
Claire sat straighter.
“From you?”
“From several directors.”
“Why are you telling me?”
“Because Daniel is going to think you caused it.”
Claire stared out Rebecca’s kitchen window.
“Did I?”
“No.”
“Then he can think whatever he wants.”
Thomas was silent.
Then he said, “That’s not the answer you would’ve given six months ago.”
Claire frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“You used to spend half your energy keeping Daniel and Evelyn from being angry at you.”
The observation embarrassed her.
Because it was true.
That evening, Daniel arrived to pick up Noah.
He looked furious.
“Did you talk to Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“My mother may lose the chair.”
Claire fastened Noah’s jacket.
“Why?”
“You know why.”
“No. Say it.”
Daniel stared.
Claire waited.
Finally he said:
“Because of the pilot.”
“Because of decisions she made?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you standing in my sister’s foyer like I did it to her?”
Daniel looked away.
Claire handed him Noah’s diaper bag.
A plain one.
No electronics inside.
Then she saw Daniel staring at it.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Daniel.”
He rubbed his thumb across his palm.
“There’s something else engineering found.”
Claire went still.
“What?”
“The damaged unit from the ballroom wasn’t the unit registered to Noah.”
Claire stared at him.
“Then whose was it?”
Daniel swallowed.
“It wasn’t registered to anyone.”
The malfunctioning device had no participant assignment.
No household record.
No reason to be inside Noah’s diaper bag.
May you like
Claire slowly took the bag back from Daniel.
The story had changed again.
