Chapter 10 - THE FIRE WAS FOR METen years ago, I had been twenty-two.

Ethan had been investigating our family's finances.

He had found evidence that millions had disappeared.

He suspected our father.

But before he could expose him, the warehouse burned.

Ethan was presumed dead.

I survived because I hadn't gone.

At least, that's what I remembered.

But Ethan told a different story.

"The fire was supposed to happen with both of you inside."

I stared at him.

"Why?"

"Because your father knew you'd inherited voting rights in the company."

I had never known that.

Those rights had been transferred quietly after my grandfather died.

Our father couldn't control the company without them.

"So he killed Ethan."

"Ethan wasn't supposed to survive."

"And me?"

"You were supposed to disappear too."

I couldn't speak.

I had spent ten years believing Ethan's death was a tragedy.

It had been an attempt to erase us both.

Then I understood Claire.

She had grown up believing my family destroyed hers.

She had entered my life seeking revenge.

But someone else had found her.

Someone who offered money.

Protection.

Access.

My father.

The person manipulating everyone.

Reyes had the same realization.

"He used Claire to monitor you," he said.

Ethan nodded.

"She thought she was manipulating the family."

"She wasn't?"

"Not completely."

Claire had been promised money.

Ethan had been promised revenge.

My father wanted control.

And somewhere in the middle was Noah.

The baby who had become leverage for all of them.

Then the hospital called.

Noah had developed a fever.

I raced there.

Doctors reassured me it wasn't an emergency.

But he was crying.

Hard.

I picked him up.

The moment I held him, he calmed.

He rested his head against my chest.

I closed my eyes.

"I'm sorry."

For everything.

For every time I said he was dramatic.

For every time I left the room.

For every bruise I explained away.

A nurse entered.

"Mr. Bennett?"

I turned.

"There was a visitor."

"Who?"

She showed me security footage.

Claire.

She had been brought into the hospital under escort for a legal appointment.

But she had somehow reached the pediatric floor.

She had stood outside Noah's room.

Watching.

"How long?"

"Four minutes."

"Did she enter?"

"No."

"Why?"

The nurse paused.

"She looked frightened."

I watched the recording.

Claire stood behind the glass.

Her face was pale.

Then she raised one hand.

As if she wanted to touch the glass.

She whispered something.

I couldn't hear it.

I requested the audio.

Security provided it.

Claire's voice came through faintly.

"I'm sorry."

I stared at the screen.

Then she whispered:

"I didn't know he would use you."

I looked at Reyes.

"What does that mean?"

We rushed to the interrogation unit.

Claire had been transferred there.

She initially refused to speak.

Then she asked one question.

"Is Noah alive?"

I said yes.

She began crying.

Not theatrically.

Not loudly.

Just one tear after another.

I didn't forgive her.

I couldn't.

But I listened.

She told us the truth.

She had been recruited by my father.

He convinced her our family had destroyed hers.

He promised her money.

Ethan had discovered her plan.

Instead of exposing her immediately, he tried to use her to reach our father's hidden accounts.

Claire eventually became trapped between them.

Then the debts came.

The threats.

The demands.

And the money.

"What about Noah?" I asked.

Claire looked at the floor.

"I was told he would never be seriously hurt."

My voice shook.

"You put cake down his throat."

"I was supposed to scare you."

"You hurt him."

"I know."

"Why?"

She whispered:

"Because your father needed you to look unstable."

I felt numb.

Then Reyes asked:

"Where is the account?"

Claire looked up.

"What account?"

"The one receiving the payments."

She shook her head.

"I don't know."

Ethan's voice came through the speaker from the next room.

"Yes, you do."

Claire froze.

Then she started crying harder.

"The account isn't in my name."

"Whose?"

She whispered:

"Yours."

I looked at Reyes.

"What?"

Claire lifted her head.

"They created it using your identity."

My blood ran cold.

"Then who controls it?"

May you like

My Family Inherited Millions and Left Me a Ruined House. Four Months Lat...

The lawyer’s office fell silent as my grandmother’s will was read, and I watched my family inherit millions while I received nothi...

A Desperate Mother Begged a Billionaire for a Job to Feed Her Two Childr...

I was stranded on a lonely Arizona highway with two starving children, a pair of ruined suitcases, and no way to reach our destina...

I Saved the Mafia Boss’s Baby from a Dumpster, but He Threw Me in Jail f...

The first thing I noticed when I opened the dumpster behind the Valente mansion was a tiny blue hand sticking out from beneath a f...

Claire answered:

"Your father."