She changed her digital access credentials.
She had the security codes changed.
She is reviewing her estate planning with her notary.
Most importantly, she kept the same security team, the one Damien had often mocked in the past.
“It looks like you’re guarding a safe,” he said.
Perhaps he was right.
However, what Claire was protecting was not the stone.
It was the right to decide who could enter her life.
Almost a year after the locksmith’s evening, one October evening, Claire was preparing dinner again.
Outside, a light rain covered the walkways.
The intercom rings.
— Mrs. Delmas?
It was Marc, the portal manager.
– Yes ?
— Your former mother-in-law is in front of the entrance.
Claire put down her glass.
She turned on the camera.
Sylvie was alone in her car.
She looked older.
Her cheeks had sunken. Her hair, once impeccably styled, was hastily tied back.
Marc continued:
— She says that a box belonging to Damien is still in your garage. She demands to go in and retrieve it.
Claire had already had the entire house checked when Damien left.
Nothing was left.
Absolutely nothing.
She looked at the screen.
For a few seconds, Sylvie stared directly at the camera, as if she knew that Claire was on the other side.
Claire still remembered that woman arriving almost a year earlier with two suitcases behind her son.
She remembered the locksmith.
The document is fake.
Messages.
From the photograph of Chantal holding her driver’s license.
And especially Damien’s 7 words:
“I’ll take care of Claire. Be ready.”
Claire brought her finger close to the microphone.
His voice was calm.
— No unauthorized visitors.
– Well received.
On the screen, Marc came out of the guard post and spoke to Sylvie.
She protested.
Then he gestures.
Then he hit his steering wheel once.
The gate did not move.
After a few minutes, she put it in reverse.
The car reversed slowly.
Its fires disappeared behind the trees.
Claire stayed in front of the screen until the road became empty again.
Then she went back to the kitchen.
The house was silent.
Not the heavy silence of a couple who are suspicious.
Not the one that precedes an argument.
A simple silence.
His.
Damien had once ordered him to leave that place so that his family could enter.
In the end, he was the one who came out on top.
The house, however, never moved.
And Claire finally understood that the gate had not only prevented 3 people, 2 suitcases and a locksmith from crossing a property.
He had offered her a few hours.
Just enough to discover those she really had to leave out.
