“We will destroy you,” she said, her voice trembling. “I swear it.”

Vance put a hand on her shoulder, attempting to calm her.

“Mrs. Whitaker, please,” he said.

“No, Arthur,” she said, pulling away from his grip. “He thinks he’s won. He thinks he can lock us out and we’ll just disappear.”

She turned back to my father, a dark, desperate look in her eyes.

“You have twenty-four hours to sign those papers,” she said.

“And if I don’t?” my father asked again.

“If you don’t,” Claire said, looking over at me with a cold, calculating smile, “I will make sure everyone knows what kind of father you really are.”

I felt a chill run down my spine as she stared at me.

She looked back at my father, her smile widening.

“I will make sure the court hears everything about how you raised our daughter,” she said.

“What are you talking about?” my father asked, his voice losing its calm demeanor for the first time.

“You’ll see,” Claire said, grabbing her purse from the table.

She turned on her heel and walked toward the door, her lawyer following closely behind.