Chapter 13 - ROBERT’S CHOICE
Robert Bennett was arrested forty minutes later.
He claimed the accelerator stuck.
Nobody believed him.
Especially after police found Julian’s phone in the SUV.
Claire stood on the sidewalk while officers put her father into a patrol car.
Robert looked at her through the open door.
“I wasn’t trying to hit you.”
“You drove onto the sidewalk.”
“I was trying to scare Brooke.”
Claire stared at him.
“That makes it better?”
“She’s destroying everything.”
“No.”
Claire stepped closer.
“You did that.”
Robert’s eyes hardened.
“You have no idea what it takes to hold a family like ours together.”
Claire almost laughed.
“You keep using the word family.”
“I built that company.”
“Grandma built it.”
“I saved it.”
“With me?”
His expression changed.
Claire continued.
“You offered me to Julian because he could solve your debt problem.”
“I introduced you.”
“You engineered it.”
“You fell in love with him.”
“That doesn’t make what you did acceptable.”
Robert looked away.
Claire lowered her voice.
“Did you know he was drugging me?”
Robert said nothing.
That silence answered her.
Claire stepped back.
For the first time she looked at her father and felt absolutely nothing.
No fear.
No need for approval.
No childish hope that one day he might say he was proud of her.
Nothing.
“You’re done.”
Robert turned.
“What?”
“With the company. With my finances. With my house. With my life.”
“You can’t erase me.”
“I’m not erasing you.”
Claire looked at the officer.
“I’m finally seeing you.”
The patrol car drove away.
Later that night, the lab called Maya.
Residue from Claire’s birthday glass tested positive for a powerful prescription sedative.
Police obtained a warrant.
Julian’s attorney stopped returning calls.
Dr. Klein was taken in for questioning.
Then the dominoes began falling.
The notary admitted Julian paid him.
The doctor admitted Robert pressured him to write misleading evaluations.
A junior accountant turned over hidden payment records.
Brooke gave prosecutors eighteen months of messages between herself and Julian.
Claire read only three.
She couldn’t stomach more.
One message from Julian read:
Once Claire is out, we stop hiding.
Brooke had replied:
You’ve said that for twelve years.
Another:
What about Ethan?
Julian:
He gets everything eventually.
Claire stared at the words.
Even his own son had been part of the financial plan.
At 2:10 a.m., Ethan called Claire.
She answered immediately.
“Hey.”
He was crying.
“Is Grandpa going to jail?”
Claire closed her eyes.
“I don’t know.”
“Is my mom going to jail?”
“I don’t know that either.”
Silence.
Then the twelve-year-old asked the question Claire had been dreading.
“Did Uncle Julian ever love me?”
Claire’s throat closed.
Whatever Julian was, Ethan was a child who had just discovered that every adult around him had lied.
Claire spoke carefully.
“What Julian did is about Julian. It isn’t because of you.”
“But he’s my dad.”
“Yes.”
“And you hate him.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“I hate what he did.”
“Do you hate me too?”
Claire sat down.
“No.”
The answer came instantly.
“Never.”
Ethan began sobbing.
Claire listened.
She didn’t try to fix it.
Some things couldn’t be fixed with a sentence.
After the call ended, Maya walked into Claire’s temporary hotel suite.
“We found Julian.”
Claire stood.
“Where?”
“Security camera caught him entering Bennett Tower twenty minutes ago.”
Claire frowned.
“The office?”
“Yes.”
“What does he want?”
Maya held up her phone.
“Building security says he went to the executive floor.”
Claire’s stomach dropped.
May you like
Her grandmother’s original amendment was locked in the office safe.
And Julian knew the code.
