Chapter 6 - Safe for Whom
Renee called at breakfast, using the bright voice she saved for witnesses. She accused Claire of throwing a nineteen-year-old onto the street, and rejected the hotel: Harper “needed family, not surveillance.” Claire asked why Harper could not return to Milwaukee. Renee paused too long and said the apartment was being painted. Harper, listening from the couch, whispered, “That’s not why.” Wyatt cut her off and told Claire to stop interrogating people. Cousins called Claire controlling in the family chat; Wyatt answered none. His silence looked like neutrality until Claire noticed he had supplied details only he knew: the canceled cards, the hotel price, the command to sit. Claire’s brother Evan offered Harper his spare room. Wyatt rejected it before Harper could answer. “She needs to stay where she feels safe,” he said. Harper’s face tightened at the word safe. That night, she cleared half the island and left the other half cluttered, as if she no longer knew which side she belonged on.
