Matt hesitated. "He's taking things one day at a time. He's working. He sees the dogs when you arrange it. He's doing what he needs to do."
I nodded. "I know you probably hate me."
"I don't hate you, Claire. But I'm not going to make this easier by telling you my brother isn't hurt. He is. And I need to look after him, not the story you want to tell about what happened."
He spoke without cruelty. I thanked him, walked back to my car, and drove away before I could embarrass us both by begging for a longer conversation. For months I had believed people who challenged me were trying to control me. It was astonishing how many honest boundaries I had mistaken for attacks.
By November, Sofia Park had given a formal account of the Ryan project to the independent reviewers and the attorneys handling the disputed payments. Her account was not designed to make me feel better. She described being asked to prepare materials for a meeting at the Aster House, the messages about filming Ethan, the questionable Silverbank invoices, and Ryan's threats to her employment when she questioned the work. She also acknowledged which things she had inferred rather than witnessed, an honesty that made her statement stronger.
I asked Priya whether I could write to thank her. Priya suggested we wait until the review was complete so my message would not be interpreted as an attempt to influence a witness. That answer frustrated me because I wanted to do a good thing immediately and receive the relief of knowing I'd done it. I accepted it because wanting relief was no longer a sufficient reason to ignore a boundary.
Ryan, meanwhile, began offering competing stories about the affair and the business deal. To one person he said he had been trying to save a struggling studio from a stubborn owner. To another he said Ethan had invented the financial problems out of jealousy. A short statement appeared on the website of Vale Strategies claiming that all consulting activity had been approved by clients and that any suggestion of wrongdoing was a misunderstanding arising from a private domestic dispute.
My name appeared in the statement without my permission. It referred to me as a client and a partner who had supported the process, and it included a quote attributed to me about the opportunity to reimagine Nashville's creative spaces. I had made a similar remark in a private conversation months earlier, but I had never approved it for publication. Jenna printed the page, and Priya sent Ryan's attorney a letter requesting that the statement be corrected and that records be preserved.
I was furious. The familiar temptation returned: I wanted to go online and tell the world what he had done. I wanted to publish every screenshot and make sure that every person who had watched me disgrace Ethan now watched Ryan fall. Priya reminded me that there were ongoing proceedings and that allegations needed to be handled accurately. Caroline asked me whether my anger came from concern for the people affected or from the need to recover my reputation.