Chapter 7 - THE MAN WHO KNEW ME BEFORE I KNEW HIM
The storage unit smelled like dust, cardboard, and old concrete.
Claire entered with Noah, Hannah, Evelyn, and two private investigators.
Tessa waited near the door.
She looked nothing like the polished woman from company dinners.
No makeup.
Hair pulled into a loose knot.
Terrified.
Claire did not feel sorry for her.
Not yet.
“Show me.”
Tessa opened Unit 314.
Boxes filled three walls.
CLAIRE BENNETT.
ALDER ROW.
MARGARET BENNETT TRUST.
ROBERT BENNETT.
Claire’s father.
She approached slowly.
The oldest box contained newspaper clippings.
Claire winning a college entrepreneurship competition.
Claire speaking at a local technology conference.
Her father appearing beside her.
A copy of an article announcing his investment in Alder Row.
Dated fourteen years earlier.
Grant and Claire met eleven years ago.
Hannah whispered, “He targeted you.”
Claire could not answer.
Another folder contained photographs.
Claire leaving restaurants.
Claire entering her apartment.
Claire meeting investors.
Taken before she knew Grant existed.
Noah examined the dates.
“Surveillance.”
Claire opened another folder.
Inside was a printed background report on her family.
Estimated wealth.
Properties.
Trust structures.
Her grandmother’s holdings.
At the top, someone had written:
PRIMARY HEIR: CLAIRE BENNETT.
Claire’s hands stopped shaking.
Something colder replaced fear.
“Grant didn’t stumble into my life.”
Tessa looked down.
“No.”
“You knew?”
“Not when we started.”
“When did you learn?”
“Three months ago.”
“And you stayed with him.”
Tessa cried.
“I loved him.”
Claire looked at her.
“So did I.”
That ended the conversation.
Then Noah found a photograph of Grant standing outside a Charlotte investment conference.
Beside him stood Stephen Mercer.
Date: eleven years, eight months earlier.
Four months before Claire met Grant.
Stephen introduced them.
Or arranged for Grant to enter her orbit.
Evelyn whispered, “This started with Stephen.”
The pattern sharpened.
Stephen knew the trust.
Knew Claire.
Knew her father’s company.
He may have recruited Grant.
But why?
Claire opened a locked file cabinet.
Inside were letters from her father.
Copies, not originals.
One letter was addressed to Margaret Bennett.
Mom,
I’ve found irregularities in the trust reporting. Stephen says they’re clerical. I don’t believe him.
Claire’s heart stopped.
Her father had suspected Stephen.
Another line:
If anything happens to me, do not let Claire sign anything Stephen puts in front of her.
Claire sat down hard.
Her father died six months after writing it.
Officially, an aneurysm.
Sudden.
Natural.
Unquestioned.
Until now.
Noah knelt beside her.
“Claire.”
She handed him the letter.
He read it.
Then looked toward Evelyn.
“We need to preserve everything.”
A sound came from the hallway outside.
Everyone froze.
The investigators moved first.
Someone ran.
A metal door slammed.
Noah sprinted after them.
Claire remained with Hannah and Evelyn.
Two minutes later, Noah returned.
Empty-handed.
“Lost him.”
“Who?”
“Male. About six feet. Dark coat.”
Tessa went pale.
“Grant?”
“No.”
Claire looked around.
“If not Grant…”
Noah lifted something the intruder dropped.
A leather card holder.
Inside was an Alder Row visitor badge.
Issued six weeks earlier.
The name printed on it made Claire’s stomach drop.
DR. MICHAEL SLOAN.
May you like
Rebecca’s father.
The neurologist Grant had recently recommended for Claire’s headaches.
