Chapter 11 - THE WOMAN I HATED STILL DESERVED TO LIVE
Grant said no.
Then corrected himself.
“I mean, I think it’s too dangerous.”
Progress.
Small.
Real.
Federal agents handled the response.
Daniel wanted me because William’s original estate file contained evidence of old insurance fraud and family transfers.
He believed I had it.
I did not.
Rebecca did.
Nobody told Daniel.
The exchange location was a warehouse outside Fort Worth.
I went wearing a wire.
Not alone.
No matter what Daniel demanded.
Savannah sat near a loading dock.
She looked terrified.
When she saw me, she started crying.
“I’m sorry.”
“Later.”
Daniel stepped out.
He looked nothing like a villain.
Expensive jacket.
Calm expression.
Family face.
That was the problem.
“Claire.”
“Let her go.”
“The file.”
“First her.”
He smiled.
“You really are predictable.”
“No.”
I looked at Savannah.
“I just don’t need to like someone to believe they shouldn’t be kidnapped.”
Savannah cried harder.
Daniel’s smile faded.
He demanded the file.
I held up a decoy envelope.
Federal agents moved into position.
Then Savannah screamed:
“Claire, don’t!”
Daniel drew a gun.
Grant appeared from the far side.
I turned.
“What are you doing here?”
Wrong time.
Still valid question.
Daniel laughed.
“The husband arrives.”
“Ex-husband,” I said.
Grant looked at me.
“Fair.”
Daniel pointed the gun toward him.
Then everything happened quickly.
Savannah dropped sideways.
I threw the envelope.
Grant moved.
Agents stormed the dock.
The gun fired.
Nobody was hit.
Daniel was tackled.
Savannah was safe.
Outside, paramedics checked her.
She stared at me.
“Why did you come?”
I looked at her.
“Because what you did to me doesn’t decide who I am.”
Her face collapsed.
That was not forgiveness.
It was freedom.
Grant stood several feet away.
He understood the distinction.
Good.
Daniel’s arrest opened everything.
Financial fraud.
Blackmail.
Forgery conspiracy.
Data theft.
Kidnapping.
Savannah accepted a cooperation deal.
So did Joanne regarding the forged documents.
Then Rebecca found the original William Cross file Daniel wanted.
Inside was one final letter.
Not to Grant.
To me.
Claire,
If the day comes when you control this company, do not give it back simply because my son is sorry.
I read the sentence twice.
Then the next.
Make him prove he understands stewardship before you trust him with power again.
William Cross had predicted almost everything.
May you like
But the final line surprised me.
And if he cannot, sell the family out of it.
