Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Knew Her Father
Vivian Hawthorne did not run.
She closed the door behind her.
Dominic stepped between her and Claire.
Vivian looked amused.
“You always did inherit Victor’s worst instinct.”
“What instinct?”
“Standing in front of people who are smarter than you.”
Claire almost looked offended on Dominic’s behalf.
Vivian noticed.
“Oh, this is interesting.”
Dominic’s voice was flat.
“Talk.”
Vivian removed her coat.
She was fifty-eight.
Elegant.
Silver threaded through dark hair.
Nothing about her resembled a frightened conspirator.
“You found the ledger.”
Claire said, “Yes.”
“The tape?”
“Yes.”
“The trust?”
“Yes.”
Vivian nodded.
“Then Edward planned better than I expected.”
Claire stared.
“You knew my father.”
“I did.”
“Is he alive?”
Vivian looked at her.
The answer came slowly.
“Yes.”
Claire gripped the edge of the table.
Dominic moved closer to her but did not touch her.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire’s eyes narrowed.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Vivian sat.
“But it’s true.”
Dominic remained standing.
“The transfers.”
“Hawthorne & Pike processed them.”
“For the crown?”
Vivian’s gaze sharpened.
“So Victor told you that name.”
“The black crown.”
“That was Edward’s name for them.”
“Who are they?”
Vivian looked toward the glass wall.
“People who learned a long time ago that legitimate businesses are better hiding places than criminal ones.”
Dominic said, “Names.”
“If I had names, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
“You’re their authorized representative on the Bennett trust.”
“Yes.”
Claire’s voice broke through.
“Why?”
Vivian looked at her.
“Because your mother asked me to be.”
Claire froze.
“My mother hated lawyers.”
“She hated me.”
“That sounds more likely.”
“She trusted me anyway.”
Vivian opened a cabinet.
Dominic’s hand moved toward his weapon.
She stopped.
“Relax.”
“Bad morning for that.”
Vivian withdrew a red file.
Claire’s name was written across it.
She placed it on the table.
Inside were photographs.
Claire at sixteen.
Claire at college.
Claire at her mother’s funeral.
Claire starting work at Vale Holdings.
Claire’s anger flashed.
“You watched me.”
“Protected.”
“You photographed me without my knowledge.”
“Protection often looks unpleasant from the wrong side.”
Dominic said, “Who took the pictures?”
“People your mother paid.”
“My mother didn’t have that kind of money.”
Vivian glanced at the trust.
“She did.”
Claire sat down.
“The twelve million.”
“Victor gave it to Edward.”
“Why?”
“Because Edward saved his life.”
Dominic frowned.
“When?”
“Before you were old enough to remember.”
Vivian looked at him.
“Your father had enemies. Edward discovered an accountant inside Vale operations shifting money to finance a planned attack.”
“And Victor paid him twelve million?”
“No. Victor created an escape fund.”
“For Edward?”
“For both families.”
Dominic’s face changed.
“He knew the crown would come after us.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t we use it?”
“Because Victor decided running would hand them everything.”
Claire whispered, “And my father?”
“Edward wanted out.”
Vivian’s voice softened.
“He had a wife. A daughter. He wasn’t built for Victor’s wars.”
Claire looked down.
“That sounds like him.”
“They staged his death.”
Claire looked up violently.
“What?”
“Victor helped.”
“My mother knew?”
“Yes.”
Claire stood so fast the chair struck the wall.
“She let me think he was dead.”
“She believed that was the only way to keep you alive.”
“For nineteen years?”
Vivian did not answer.
Claire walked toward the window.
Dominic wanted to follow.
He stopped himself.
This grief belonged to her.
“Where did he go?” she asked.
“Canada first. Then Europe. After that I lost contact.”
“You said he’s alive.”
“I received a letter eighteen months ago.”
“From where?”
“No return address.”
“What did it say?”
Vivian hesitated.
Claire turned.
“What did it say?”
“That the crown had found him.”
Silence.
“And?”
“He told me not to contact you.”
Claire’s face hardened.
“You obeyed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the last time someone ignored Edward Bennett’s instructions, three people died.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“Who?”
Vivian looked at him.
“One of them was your uncle.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
Uncle Anthony.
Official cause: heart attack.
Victor had never discussed it.
“How?”
“Poison.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Vivian continued.
“The crown is not one person. It is an arrangement. Lawyers. bankers. executives. officials. People who never meet. They protect the system because the system protects them.”
Claire asked, “Then why send the envelope?”
“I didn’t.”
“The photographs?”
“No.”
“The warehouse?”
“No.”
Dominic watched her carefully.
“You expect me to believe somebody else restarted this.”
Vivian nodded.
“Someone is forcing the old evidence into the open.”
“Why now?”
Vivian looked at Claire.
“Because Edward came back.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“You know that?”
“The photograph proves it.”
“You hadn’t seen it before?”
“No.”
Dominic placed the hotel photograph in front of her.
Vivian studied Edward’s face.
For the first time, her composure cracked.
“He looks terrible.”
Claire whispered, “But alive.”
“Yes.”
Dominic tapped the warehouse address.
“Someone wants Claire there Sunday.”
Vivian’s eyes lifted.
“Don’t go.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps telling me that.”
“Because your father spent nineteen years keeping you away from this.”
“And now he may be in that warehouse.”
“He may not.”
Claire looked at Dominic.
He understood.
She was going.
Nothing would stop her.
So he said, “Then we make sure she doesn’t go alone.”
Vivian shook her head.
“The message explicitly says alone.”
Dominic smiled without humor.
“I have never been good at instructions.”
Claire stared at him.
“You invited me to dinner because you thought I’d embarrass myself.”
“Yes.”
“And now you’re volunteering to walk into a trap with me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Dominic knew the correct answer.
Responsibility.
Security.
Business.
None of them felt true enough.
“Because someone used my family to ruin yours.”
Claire waited.
“And?”
He looked at her.
“Because you matter to me.”
Vivian looked away.
Claire did not.
For several seconds, the conspiracy disappeared.
The ledger.
The crown.
The dead waiter.
All gone.
There was only the man who had once laughed at the idea of her entering his world and the woman who had spent three years hiding in plain sight.
Then Vivian’s phone buzzed.
She looked at the screen.
Her face emptied.
Dominic noticed.
“What?”
Vivian rose.
“We need to leave.”
“Why?”
She showed them.
Security alert.
Someone had entered Hawthorne & Pike’s private archive.
“But we’re in the archive,” Claire said.
Vivian shook her head.
“Not this one.”
She moved toward a hidden panel behind the shelving.
Dominic stared.
A keypad appeared.
Vivian entered six digits.
The wall opened.
Behind it stood another records room.
Smaller.
Older.
A single lamp burned inside.
And a man sat at the desk.
Gray hair.
Scar along his cheek.
Claire stopped.
Her lips parted.
The man lifted his head.
His eyes filled with tears.
“Claire?”
She whispered one word.
“Dad?”
Edward Bennett stood.
Then Dominic saw the gun pressed against the back of Edward’s chair.
May you like
And the hand holding it.
Luca Vale stepped into the light.
