Claire’s Surgery
Chapter 13 - Claire’s Surgery
Claire underwent surgery three weeks later.
The operation lasted nine hours.
Mason and Diane waited in separate parts of the hospital. Claire allowed Naomi and a close friend, Lena Ortiz, to receive updates.
Richard was prohibited from contact under a protective order.
The procedure succeeded.
Recovery was painful and slow.
Claire spent days measuring progress in breaths, steps, and minutes sitting upright.
Media called her the heiress whose father tried to steal the money keeping her alive.
She rejected the word heiress.
The trust was large because lifelong medical uncertainty was expensive, not because it represented luxury.
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She also rejected photographs from recovery.
Her body did not owe the public proof that the fraud mattered.
