Chapter 4 - The Second Betrayal
The lights returned.
Ryan stood behind her.
“Claire?”
She nearly dropped the phone.
“You?”
He frowned.
“Who did you think it was?”
Claire showed him the message.
Ryan read it.
“Someone is watching us.”
Evelyn immediately checked the network.
The security system had been accessed remotely.
Edward was found ten minutes later in the downstairs library.
Unconscious but breathing.
An ambulance was called.
The ledger wasn't with him.
When Edward regained consciousness, he remembered almost nothing.
Only someone approaching him from behind.
And a smell.
Lavender perfume.
Ashley stared at Claire.
“My mother wears lavender.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
But Claire wasn't convinced.
Too obvious.
Margaret had spent years hiding financial trails.
Why suddenly leave such a simple clue?
The answer arrived from an unexpected place.
Rosa Alvarez, the Lawson family's longtime housekeeper, quietly approached Claire.
“Miss Claire?”
Claire turned.
Rosa looked frightened.
“I saw something.”
“What?”
“Mrs. Mercer came downstairs before dinner.”
“Margaret?”
“Yes. She went into your father's study.”
Claire's skin prickled.
“With anyone?”
Rosa hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Before she could answer, Ryan entered.
Rosa immediately stopped talking.
Claire noticed.
“So?” Ryan demanded.
Rosa lowered her eyes.
“I should go.”
Claire caught her gently with her left hand.
“Rosa.”
The older woman looked at her.
“You can tell me.”
Rosa glanced at Ryan.
Then whispered:
“She wasn't with Mr. Edward.”
“Who was she with?”
Rosa swallowed.
“Mr. Ryan.”
Silence.
Claire released her.
Ryan stared.
“What?”
“I saw you,” Rosa said.
“No, you didn't.”
“Ryan,” Claire said.
“I wasn't in the study.”
Rosa stepped backward.
“I know what I saw.”
Ryan shook his head.
“I arrived at six-thirty.”
Rosa looked confused.
“The man looked exactly like you.”
Claire's mind raced.
Exactly like him.
Then Ashley spoke from the doorway.
“Derek.”
Everyone turned.
“My husband.”
Ashley looked sick.
“From behind, people confuse them all the time.”
Derek Hale.
Ashley's husband.
He had attended dinner.
And disappeared before dessert.
Claire remembered something else.
Derek managed corporate restructurings.
Including shell companies.
Evelyn was already typing.
Within minutes, she found it.
AM Strategic Ventures had been incorporated by a law office connected to Derek.
Ashley sat down hard.
“No.”
Ryan stared at his sister.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Did Mom?”
Ashley began shaking.
Claire crouched beside her.
“Ashley. Think.”
Ashley covered her face.
“Derek and Mom have been meeting for months.”
“About what?”
“She said he was helping with my boutique.”
Evelyn looked up.
“He wasn't helping your boutique.”
She turned her laptop.
“He was using it.”
Invoices from Ashley's business had been routed through shell vendors.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Maybe millions.
Ashley began to cry.
“I didn't know.”
Claire believed her.
The cruelty at dinner had been real.
So had Ashley's ignorance.
People could be both cruel and manipulated.
Ryan looked toward Claire.
“Where would Derek go?”
Ashley wiped her eyes.
“He has access to our condo.”
Vale interrupted.
“He won't go home.”
“Why?”
“Because if he has the ledger, he's looking for whatever connects it to.”
Claire understood.
“My father's files.”
They were stored off-site.
Except one.
The original Hawthorne trust.
Daniel suddenly stood.
“Where is it?”
Claire stared.
“My safe.”
“Where?”
“Upstairs.”
They ran.
Claire couldn't run properly with the sling, but adrenaline carried her.
The bedroom door was open.
The safe stood behind a painting.
Also open.
Empty.
Ryan cursed.
Claire stared inside.
Someone knew the combination.
Only two people had it.
Claire.
And Ryan.
She turned toward him.
His face collapsed.
“I didn't give it to anyone.”
“How else did they open it?”
“I don't know.”
“Ryan.”
“I swear.”
Ashley suddenly whispered:
“Mom knows.”
Ryan turned.
“What?”
“She watched you open the safe at Christmas.”
Ryan stared at her.
“How do you know?”
“She told me.”
Claire felt exhausted.
Every answer revealed another betrayal.
Daniel touched her shoulder carefully.
“We can recreate most documents.”
“Most?”
“The handwritten amendments are harder.”
Vale stepped closer.
“And one amendment matters.”
“What amendment?”
“Your father changed the controlling trustee.”
“To who?”
Vale looked at her.
“You.”
Claire frowned.
“I already control the trust.”
“Not Hawthorne.”
He paused.
“Thomas originally appointed someone else.”
“Who?”
Before Vale could answer, Claire's phone rang.
Margaret.
Everyone froze.
Claire answered on speaker.
“Margaret?”
Breathing.
Then:
“Claire, listen to me.”
“Where are you?”
“I made mistakes.”
Ryan stepped closer.
“Mom?”
Margaret inhaled sharply.
“Ryan is there?”
“Yes.”
“Don't trust Derek.”
Ashley began crying again.
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
“You were working with him.”
“At first.”
Claire gripped the phone.
“At first?”
“He promised he could recover what your father took from me.”
“Nothing was taken from you.”
“I know that now.”
“Where is the trust?”
Silence.
“Margaret?”
“I didn't take it.”
“Derek did?”
“I think so.”
“Where are you?”
Margaret started answering.
Then Claire heard another voice in the background.
Male.
Margaret stopped.
A door closed.
“Margaret?”
Her breathing quickened.
“Claire, there's something about Ryan you need to know.”
Ryan stared at the phone.
“What?”
Margaret whispered:
“He wasn't supposed to marry you.”
Ryan went white.
Claire felt the room tilt.
“What does that mean?”
“He was supposed to—”
The call disconnected.
Claire stared at the screen.
Then a text arrived from Margaret's number.
An address.
May you like
And underneath it:
COME ALONE OR YOU'LL NEVER KNOW WHY RYAN REALLY MET YOU.
