Chapter 7 - SAMANTHA THOUGHT CLAIRE’S MONEY BELONGED TO ME
I called Samantha from Michael’s office.
Not alone.
Not secretly.
Michael recorded the call with my consent and according to state law.
Samantha answered instantly.
“Finally.”
“What did you send Bennett Biomedical?”
Silence.
Then:
“I’m trying to help you.”
“By claiming to represent me?”
“You’re married to Claire.”
“That doesn’t make her company mine.”
She laughed.
“You really are naïve.”
There was the voice I had never noticed while I was busy enjoying her attention.
Not seductive.
Contemptuous.
“You think Claire walked away with a baby because she’s some exhausted little victim?”
My jaw tightened.
“Don’t talk about her like that.”
“Oh, now you defend her?”
Michael raised one finger.
Stay calm.
I forced my voice lower.
“What do you know about Bennett Biomedical?”
“Enough.”
“How?”
“You told me.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“You told me her father left her something.”
That part was true.
Months earlier, over drinks, I complained that Claire never worried about money because her family had investments.
I had said it dismissively.
Like inherited security somehow made her effort less valuable.
Samantha continued.
“I did research.”
“You accessed confidential company records.”
Another pause.
“Daniel, everyone looks things up.”
“You accessed my insurance records.”
“I was trying to understand what you had to lose.”
Hope.
The phrase hit me like ice.
“What I had to lose?”
“You kept telling me you wanted out.”
“I was talking about my marriage.”
“And I was trying to build a future.”
“With my wife’s money?”
Her voice sharpened.
“Our future.”
There it was.
Not love.
Structure.
Assets.
Access.
I felt physically ill.
“Did you send Claire the fake messages about Hope?”
Silence.
“Samantha.”
“She needed to stop pretending you were perfect.”
“I wasn’t perfect. I was actually cheating. Why fabricate paternity messages?”
“Because women forgive affairs.”
The calmness of her answer terrified me.
“But they don’t forgive men who reject their babies.”
Michael’s eyes hardened.
I could barely speak.
“You wanted her to leave.”
“You said you wanted her gone.”
“I said terrible things. That doesn’t mean—”
“It meant exactly what I needed it to mean.”
The line went quiet.
For the first time, I understood Samantha had not mistaken me for a good man.
She had simply recognized a weak one.
I ended the call.
Michael saved the recording.
My hands shook.
Then he said, “There’s still a problem.”
“What?”
“Claire may use this to prove Samantha manipulated parts of the situation.”
“That helps me.”
“No.”
His voice was firm.
“It helps explain Samantha. It does not erase you.”
I looked down.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
I thought about the lingerie in my foyer.
The bracelet.
Claire asking for twenty minutes.
“Yes.”
Michael nodded.
Then his assistant knocked.
A courier had arrived.
Another legal filing.
This one was not from Claire.
It was from Meridian Capital Partners.
They were demanding immediate repayment of $412,000.
I stared at the number.
“That’s impossible.”
Michael read deeper.
“No, Daniel.”
His expression changed.
“It’s worse.”
My personal investment account had not lost $83,900.
Meridian had leveraged it four times.
And my signature appeared on every loan document.
May you like
Some were real.
Some were not.
