Chapter 10 - THE MISTRESS WHO RAN AWAY WITH MY HUSBAND
Tessa swore she had not betrayed Claire.
The problem was that she made the claim while sitting in Grant’s car.
At the airport.
With a suitcase.
Claire called her.
Tessa answered immediately.
“Listen before you assume.”
“You have thirty seconds.”
“Grant thinks I’m going with him.”
“Are you?”
“No.”
“Why are you at the airport?”
“He has the certificate.”
“I know.”
“He also has Stephen’s ledger.”
Claire froze.
“What ledger?”
“The real one.”
Every payment.
Every bribe.
Every shell company.
Grant had apparently taken it from Stephen months earlier as insurance.
Tessa discovered it when searching his storage unit.
Now Grant wanted to flee with both documents.
“Where?”
“Cayman Islands first. Then somewhere else.”
“Why are you helping him?”
“I’m not.”
Tessa’s voice hardened.
“I’m delivering him.”
Federal investigators moved in twelve minutes later.
Grant was arrested near the private aviation terminal.
Tessa walked away under protection.
The stock certificate was recovered.
So was the ledger.
Stephen Mercer was arrested that evening.
Dr. Sloan the next morning.
Rebecca surrendered twenty-four hours later.
The conspiracy began collapsing quickly.
Grant requested to see Claire.
She refused.
He requested again.
She refused.
A week later, Evelyn entered Claire’s office.
“He’s offering information.”
“About what?”
“Your father.”
Claire’s jaw tightened.
“What could Grant know?”
“Apparently Stephen confessed things to him.”
Claire agreed to one meeting.
County detention.
Glass partition.
Grant looked smaller without his suits.
Not physically.
Some men shrink when power leaves the room.
He lifted the phone.
Claire did the same.
“You look good.”
“Don’t.”
His eyes dropped.
“Right.”
“Tell me about Dad.”
Grant swallowed.
“Stephen told me he never intended your father to die.”
Claire’s grip tightened.
“He instructed Sloan to make Robert confused during an audit meeting.”
“With anticoagulants?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“A sedative first.”
Grant’s voice shook.
“Robert had a medical vulnerability Stephen didn’t know about.”
Claire stared.
“So they drugged him.”
“Yes.”
“And covered it up.”
“Yes.”
“Then they watched me grieve and continued stealing.”
Grant closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Claire wanted to scream.
Instead she asked the question that had haunted her.
“When did you learn what Stephen had done?”
Grant looked at her.
Silence.
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
Claire’s breath stopped.
Two years.
For two years her husband knew Stephen had been involved in her father’s death.
And said nothing.
“Why?”
“He threatened me.”
“With what?”
“The truth about how we met.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“That you targeted me?”
“Yes.”
“Was any of it real?”
Grant’s face broke.
“Yes.”
She hated that answer more than no.
“At first Stephen paid my debt and told me to get close to you.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“But after?”
“I fell in love with you.”
“You spent eight years lying.”
“I know.”
“You slept with Tessa.”
“I know.”
“You tried to steal my company.”
His eyes filled.
“I convinced myself I deserved part of what I helped you build.”
“You didn’t build it.”
“I know that now.”
“No, Grant.”
Claire leaned toward the glass.
“You knew it then.”
He began crying.
She felt almost nothing.
That surprised her.
The love was gone.
Or perhaps it had finally stopped arguing with the evidence.
Grant wiped his face.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Stephen wasn’t the person who first chose me.”
Claire frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“He didn’t find me.”
“Who did?”
Grant looked ashamed.
“Your grandmother.”
Claire stopped breathing.
Margaret Bennett.
May you like
The woman who had taught Claire never to confuse access with ownership.
According to Grant, Margaret had known who he was before Claire ever met him.
