Chapter 6 - MY BOSS WAS MY HUSBAND’S SISTER
Natalie Cross was born Natalie Bennett.
Daniel’s half sister.
William’s first child.
Mother:
Rachel Cross.
William never married her.
When Natalie was nineteen, she publicly accused William of stealing money from Rachel’s inheritance.
Family lawyers shut everything down.
Natalie changed her surname to Cross.
Built her design firm.
Never spoke to Daniel again.
At least, that was the family version.
Yet she had hired me twelve years later.
Before Daniel and I married.
That changed everything.
“Did she know who I was when she hired me?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Probably.”
My career might have been connected to his family long before I knew him.
I felt sick.
I called Natalie.
No answer.
Again.
Then one text:
DO NOT GO HOME.
I stared.
Second:
TAKE SOPHIE SOMEWHERE DANIEL DOESN’T KNOW.
My blood ran cold.
I showed him.
Daniel’s face hardened.
“She thinks I’m involved.”
Or wanted me to think he was.
“Why shouldn’t Daniel know?”
No response.
Agent Nguyen traced Natalie’s phone.
Turned off.
Then federal agents searched our company office with a warrant related to financial conspiracy.
Employees panicked.
I felt humiliated.
Then angry at myself for caring.
Evidence first.
In Natalie’s private office, agents found a safe.
Inside:
Old Bennett documents.
William’s fake death paperwork.
Charles Vane payment records.
Evelyn’s trust transfers.
Natalie had been investigating them.
Not working with them.
The airport meeting was likely confrontation.
Then a letter addressed to me.
Claire,
If this is being read without me, then I waited too long.
I hired you because of Daniel.
My chest tightened.
There it was.
Not merit?
She continued:
Not to use you.
To watch him.
That did not improve things.
She believed Daniel might unknowingly hold access to accounts William hid.
She wanted someone close enough to the Bennett family to reveal movement.
Then:
I expected you to leave the company within months.
Instead, you became the best project manager I ever hired.
My chest loosened slightly.
Not much.
Then:
When you began dating Daniel, I nearly fired you.
But you were happy.
I decided my war with William was not yours.
Until Sophie was born.
Why?
Natalie had known about the age-five audit clause.
She realized William could use Sophie’s identity to move hidden assets.
She began monitoring trust filings.
Found the fake account.
Tried to warn Daniel anonymously.
Daniel confirmed.
He had received unexplained emails six months earlier.
That was how he first discovered the trust.
Natalie was the anonymous source.
“Why not tell him who she was?”
“Because I would have ignored her.”
Fair.
Family wounds.
Then Natalie’s letter said:
Evelyn is guilty of frightening Sophie.
But she is not protecting William anymore.
Interesting.
What?
Evelyn had switched sides.
Three months earlier, she contacted Natalie.
Said Charles had become dangerous.
William wanted to move everything.
Evelyn wanted out.
Natalie did not trust her.
Still met.
That explained the airport.
They were trying to force William to confess.
Charles arrived unexpectedly.
Then all four disappeared from cameras.
Where were they now?
One clue.
Natalie wrote:
If Charles realizes Sophie saw him in the house, he will try to remove her from the audit chain.
My hands shook.
“Remove?”
Daniel stood.
“What does that mean?”
The age-five audit only triggered if Sophie remained primary named beneficiary.
If her legal identity changed—
Adoption.
Custody.
Guardianship.
Or a paternity challenge.
“Paternity.”
My stomach dropped.
If Charles could prove Daniel was not Sophie’s biological father, certain Bennett trust structures might remove her.
Ridiculous.
Daniel was Sophie’s father.
Biologically too.
We had no reason to doubt.
Then Agent Nguyen found a draft DNA petition.
Petitioner:
William Bennett.
Claim:
Daniel Bennett is not biological father of Sophie Bennett.
Evidence:
Private laboratory report.
Daniel stopped breathing.
“That’s false.”
I knew.
But the report showed 0% paternity.
Forgery?
Probably.
Then another report.
Mine.
Confirmed mother.
So they planned to challenge Daniel only.
Why?
To claim Sophie had no Bennett blood.
Remove audit trigger.
Empty trust before investigation.
“Who is listed as biological father?”
The line was sealed.
Agent Nguyen opened attachment.
My stomach turned.
Charles Vane.
I laughed.
“No.”
Daniel looked at me.
I stared at him.
“Daniel.”
“I know.”
“No.”
I had never slept with Charles.
Never.
Not once.
The claim was impossible.
Unless—
Artificial sample manipulation.
Stolen DNA.
Fake lab.
The whole thing was manufactured.
Then Agent Nguyen said:
“The lab is real.”
“Results aren’t.”
“Maybe.”
“They cannot be.”
She nodded.
“We’ll retest independently.”
Then she added:
“But there’s another reason Charles might make this claim.”
“What?”
“If he establishes paternity, he becomes Sophie’s legal father.”
My skin crawled.
“He wants control.”
“Yes.”
Through Sophie.
Again.
Every adult treated my daughter as a financial key.
I wanted to burn the whole system down.
Then Natalie called.
Finally.
Whispering.
“Claire.”
“Where are you?”
“I got away.”
“From who?”
“Charles.”
“What happened to Evelyn?”
Silence.
“Natalie?”
“She tried to stop him.”
My stomach tightened.
“Is she alive?”
“I don’t know.”
“William?”
“With Charles.”
“Where?”
“Old Bennett quarry.”
Daniel froze.
He knew it.
Abandoned stone quarry property outside the city.
Owned by a shell company.
Natalie continued:
“Claire, Sophie cannot be with anyone connected to the family tonight.”
“She’s with police protection.”
“Good.”
Then:
“Do not trust the DNA report.”
“I don’t.”
“No.”
Natalie’s voice broke.
“I mean the independent one too.”
I froze.
“What?”
“William paid the fertility clinic.”
Silence.
“What fertility clinic?”
“The one you and Daniel used.”
My blood stopped.
Sophie had been conceived through IVF.
Four years earlier.
Private clinic.
Daniel and I never told most people.
How did William know?
Natalie whispered:
May you like
“He chose the embryo transfer.”
I stopped breathing.
