Chapter 3 - THE MARRIAGE THAT STARTED AS A BUSINESS PLAN
I did not cry.
That surprised me.
Instead, I opened a new notebook and wrote one sentence.
Ethan knew.
Then another.
Sophia knew first.
Rebecca stood near the window while I called my mother.
“Mom.”
Her voice softened immediately.
“How are you?”
“What is Project Northstar?”
Silence.
Long enough.
“Claire—”
“No.”
I stood.
“No protecting me. No waiting until later. No telling me to rest.”
My mother exhaled.
“Come home.”
“I’m at headquarters.”
“Then come to the house.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
That frightened me.
My childhood home in Hampstead looked exactly the same.
Same ivy.
Same blue-gray door.
Same rose garden my father claimed he hated and secretly watered every morning.
Lily was upstairs with her grandmother’s housekeeper.
My mother led me into the library.
Then locked the door.
“You’re going to hate me.”
“Probably.”
She opened a safe.
Inside were files.
Old.
Marked NORTHSTAR.
She handed me one.
The first page showed a corporate structure.
Ashbourne Group.
NordTech.
Three shell companies.
And Bennett International.
I stared.
“They’re connected.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Your father helped create NordTech.”
My stomach tightened.
“He never mentioned it.”
“He couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because NordTech began as a confidential research project between Ashbourne and a Swedish defense contractor.”
My eyes narrowed.
“Defense?”
“Logistics systems.”
“Military?”
“Dual-use.”
I sat down.
“What did Dad do?”
“He designed the commercial structure.”
“And Bennett?”
“Henry Bennett invested secretly.”
Sophia’s father.
“So both our families own pieces?”
“Not anymore.”
“What happened?”
My mother’s face hardened.
“Henry tried to move the technology into private security contracts.”
“Illegal?”
“Not necessarily. Dangerous.”
“Dad disagreed.”
“Yes.”
“So they split.”
“Violently.”
My stomach tightened.
“What does that have to do with Ethan?”
My mother looked away.
“His father worked for Henry Bennett.”
I went cold.
“Ethan’s father?”
“Michael Walker was Bennett’s internal investigator.”
I barely remembered him.
He died before Ethan and I met.
“At Columbia, Ethan told me his father was an accountant.”
“Partly true.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Apparently everyone in my marriage specialized in partial truths.”
My mother continued.
“Michael believed your father had hidden ownership rights in Northstar.”
“What rights?”
“A controlling option.”
“Where?”
“Attached to NordTech.”
My heartbeat changed.
“If Ashbourne acquires NordTech…”
“The option activates.”
“What does it control?”
My mother hesitated.
“All legacy Northstar patents.”
I stared.
“Worth?”
“Potentially billions.”
So this wasn’t just a €1.2 billion acquisition.
It was a fight over technology rights potentially worth several times more.
“And Sophia knows.”
“Yes.”
“Ethan?”
“Probably.”
I felt sick.
Then another thought came.
“My father died during negotiations with Bennett.”
My mother’s face changed.
“Claire.”
I stood.
“No.”
“It was a heart attack.”
“Was it?”
She didn’t answer quickly enough.
My chest tightened.
“Mom.”
“Your father had a heart condition.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
She sat.
“Three days before he died, someone broke into his Geneva hotel room.”
My blood went cold.
“What was taken?”
“A Northstar drive.”
“Did police investigate?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Nothing.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you were twenty-three and already leaving for New York.”
I laughed.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“You let me leave with Ethan.”
“I didn’t know he was connected.”
“But later?”
Her silence answered me.
“You knew later.”
“I suspected.”
“When?”
“After Lily was born.”
I stared.
“And you said nothing?”
“I thought you were happy.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps using that sentence to justify lying to me.”
My mother looked ashamed.
Then she opened another file.
“Your father left this for you.”
A sealed envelope.
My name.
Claire.
My hands trembled.
I opened it.
One line.
If anything happens to me, do not trust anyone who tells you Northstar is only about money.
May you like
Below it:
Especially a Walker.
