Chapter 3 - File Seventeen
Michael lunged for the door.
It slammed down before he reached it.
Emily grabbed her phone.
"No signal."
Claire held Sophie tighter.
Michael examined the walls.
"Stay calm."
Claire looked around.
"Who knew we were here?"
"Only us."
"And Margaret."
Michael's expression hardened.
He found an emergency release and forced the door upward several inches.
Emily helped.
After several tense minutes, they crawled beneath it.
The corridor outside was empty.
No attacker.
No explanation.
Only Claire's phone lying several feet away.
She had not dropped it.
Someone had taken it from her pocket.
The screen was cracked.
A message had been typed but not sent.
STOP DIGGING OR YOUR DAUGHTER LOSES MORE THAN A NAME.
Emily read it twice.
"We're going to the police."
Michael nodded.
Claire did not argue.
But when detectives examined the storage facility, they found something disturbing.
The security cameras had been disabled twelve minutes before Claire arrived.
Whoever had trapped them knew exactly when they were coming.
Claire and Sophie moved into Emily's apartment under temporary private security arranged by Michael.
Daniel called constantly.
Claire ignored him until that evening.
Then she answered.
"Did you know about Unit 17?"
Silence.
"What?"
"My father's storage unit."
"No."
"Did you threaten Sophie?"
Daniel sounded genuinely horrified.
"What are you talking about?"
Claire told him.
Daniel immediately demanded the address.
She refused.
"Claire, this isn't a game."
"I know."
"My father has people who—"
He stopped.
Claire caught it.
"Your father has people who what?"
Daniel said nothing.
"Daniel."
"My father protects the company."
"How?"
"You don't want to know."
Claire looked at sleeping Sophie.
"I think I've reached the point where I do."
Daniel came to Emily's building thirty minutes later.
Michael met him downstairs.
Claire watched through the apartment camera.
Eventually she allowed Daniel upstairs.
He entered slowly.
His eyes went immediately to Sophie.
For the first time, Claire saw something she had wanted to see in the hospital.
Longing.
Daniel approached the bassinet but stopped several feet away.
"Can I see her?"
"You can see her from there."
He nodded.
Claire placed the photograph of Robert and Margaret on the table.
"Explain."
Daniel stared.
"I've never seen this."
"Your mother called me."
"What did she say?"
"That Noah might not be yours."
Daniel looked as though Claire had struck him.
"That's impossible."
"Is it?"
"Vanessa had a DNA test."
"Did you see the original?"
"My father handled it."
There it was.
Charles again.
Daniel sat down.
Claire watched his certainty collapse.
"Why would my father lie?"
Michael answered.
"Because a recognized male descendant gives him leverage over the trust."
Daniel looked at him.
"You're saying Noah isn't mine?"
"I'm saying you should verify everything Charles told you."
Daniel stood.
"I need to talk to Vanessa."
Claire's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
A woman's voice whispered:
"Don't let Daniel come here."
Claire knew instantly.
"Vanessa?"
Daniel looked at her.
Vanessa continued.
"Charles knows you found the storage unit."
"How?"
"He knows everything."
"Is Noah Daniel's son?"
Silence.
Then Vanessa began crying.
"No."
Daniel grabbed the edge of the table.
Claire put the phone on speaker.
Vanessa continued.
"Daniel, I'm sorry."
"Whose son is he?"
"I can't say."
"You told me he was mine."
"Your father made me."
Daniel's face drained.
"Why?"
"Because he needed you to believe you already had an heir before Claire's baby was born."
Claire felt sick.
Daniel whispered, "Who is Noah's father?"
Vanessa's answer was almost inaudible.
"Your brother."
Daniel stared.
Claire knew Daniel had only one brother.
Andrew.
Andrew Whitmore had died four years earlier.
Two months before Claire and Daniel's wedding.
A boating accident.
Or so everyone had been told.
Daniel sat down.
"No."
Vanessa sobbed.
"I'm sorry."
Andrew had been Vanessa's boyfriend.
She became pregnant shortly before his death.
Charles discovered it.
He hid Vanessa and the child.
Years later, when Claire became pregnant, Charles used Noah.
Why?
Because Andrew had been Charles's preferred heir.
Daniel had inherited his position only because Andrew died.
If Noah was legally recognized as Andrew's son, the trust could shift.
But if Noah was presented privately as Daniel's child first, Charles could manipulate both branches.
Claire began seeing the shape of something much larger.
"What does this have to do with my father?"
Vanessa became quiet.
"Robert Bennett knew Andrew."
Daniel looked up.
Claire's heart accelerated.
"How?"
"I don't know everything."
"Tell me what you know."
"Andrew believed Charles stole part of Whitmore Holdings from Robert. He was trying to prove it."
Michael stepped closer.
"When?"
"Before he died."
Claire whispered, "Andrew's death wasn't an accident."
Vanessa didn't answer.
She didn't need to.
A knock sounded at Emily's door.
Everyone froze.
Michael checked the camera.
Margaret Whitmore stood outside.
Alone.
Claire opened the door.
Margaret entered looking twenty years older than she had at the baby shower.
She saw Sophie.
Her composure broke.
"Oh, Claire."
"Don't."
Margaret stopped.
"You knew."
"Yes."
"You watched me marry Daniel."
"Yes."
"You watched me become pregnant."
Margaret began crying.
"Yes."
"And you said nothing."
"I was afraid."
"Of Charles?"
Margaret nodded.
Daniel stepped forward.
"Did Dad kill Andrew?"
Margaret's face changed.
Daniel repeated the question.
"Did Dad kill my brother?"
"No."
Daniel exhaled.
Margaret continued.
"But he covered up what happened."
Claire stared.
"Who killed him?"
Margaret looked toward Sophie.
"I came because I can't let another child pay for what we did."
"What did you do?"
Margaret removed an envelope from her handbag.
Inside was an old flash drive.
"Andrew recorded everything."
Daniel reached for it.
Margaret pulled it back.
"Not here."
"Why?"
"Because Charles knows I'm here."
Michael moved toward the window.
A black sedan had stopped across the street.
Margaret looked at Claire.
"Your father discovered Charles had forged Robert's ownership transfer. Andrew helped him. After Robert died, Andrew kept investigating."
Claire felt her knees weaken.
"You said after my father died."
Margaret nodded.
"Andrew believed Robert was murdered."
Daniel stared at his mother.
"And then Andrew died too."
Margaret closed her eyes.
"Yes."
Claire looked at the flash drive.
"What's on it?"
"The reason."
Before Margaret could explain, the building's fire alarm erupted.
Michael looked outside.
The black sedan was gone.
Smoke began creeping beneath the apartment door.
Emily grabbed Sophie.
Michael shouted for everyone to move.
Claire reached for the flash drive.
Margaret caught her wrist.
"There's something you need to know before you watch it."
"What?"
Margaret looked directly at Daniel.
"Andrew wasn't the last person who saw your father alive."
Daniel froze.
May you like
Margaret pointed toward Michael.
"He was."
