Chapter 2 - The Flash Drive
Marcus took the flash drive from Ethan.
“No.”
Ethan lunged for it.
Two security officers forced him against the wall.
“Don’t open that.”
Claire stared at him.
“Why?”
Ethan said nothing.
That silence told her more than any confession could have.
Marcus escorted everyone into a private conference room near the ballroom.
Claire sat at the far end of the table.
She refused to sit beside Ethan.
Vanessa and Madison were brought in separately.
The wedding had effectively ended.
Guests were being asked to remain available for statements.
Vanessa’s new husband, Daniel, stood outside the conference room looking like a man who had discovered his marriage was a lie before the cake had even been cut.
Claire barely noticed him.
Her attention stayed on the flash drive.
Marcus inserted it into an offline hotel laptop.
Ethan immediately spoke.
“You need an attorney before you do that.”
Claire looked at him.
“I need an attorney?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because some of those files have your name on them.”
Claire’s mouth went dry.
Marcus opened the drive.
There were dozens of folders.
BENNETT FAMILY TRUST.
HAWTHORNE HOLDINGS.
CLAIRE B.
TRANSFER AUTHORIZATIONS.
MEDICAL.
Claire stopped him.
“Medical?”
Ethan closed his eyes.
Marcus opened the folder.
Inside were copies of Claire’s prenatal records.
Doctor appointments.
Insurance documents.
Even private notes from consultations she had attended without Ethan.
Claire stood.
“How did you get these?”
Ethan didn’t answer.
“How did you get my medical records?”
“I didn’t.”
“Then who did?”
Vanessa answered from across the room.
“Dad.”
Everyone turned.
Vanessa realized too late what she had said.
Claire stared at her.
“Your father?”
Richard Whitmore.
Ethan’s father.
The respected chairman of Whitmore Capital.
The man who had hugged Claire when she announced her pregnancy.
The man who called her his second daughter.
Claire suddenly remembered something.
Three months earlier, Richard had asked her whether she had updated her estate plan after becoming pregnant.
She had thought it was fatherly concern.
Now she felt sick.
Marcus opened another folder.
Inside were draft legal documents.
Claire Bennett Financial Power of Attorney.
Temporary Asset Management Agreement.
Trustee Replacement Authorization.
Her signature lines were blank.
Ethan’s were already signed.
Claire looked at him.
“You were going to make me sign these tonight?”
Ethan shook his head.
“Not exactly.”
Madison laughed bitterly.
Everyone looked at her.
“He’s lying again.”
Vanessa slammed her hand on the table.
“Shut up.”
Madison looked at Claire.
“They were going to tell you the police were coming.”
Claire remained silent.
“They were going to say Vanessa had agreed not to press charges if you signed documents upstairs.”
Claire stared at Ethan.
“You were going to use a fake theft accusation to blackmail your pregnant wife?”
Ethan looked down.
Claire felt something inside her break.
Not loudly.
Quietly.
Permanently.
Marcus continued searching.
Then he found a spreadsheet.
Hundreds of transfers.
Millions of dollars.
Companies Claire had never heard of.
But every few lines contained the same name.
BENNETT HERITAGE TRUST.
Claire frowned.
“That trust belonged to my grandfather.”
Marcus looked at her.
“Did you know money was being transferred out of it?”
“No.”
“How much should be there?”
Claire hesitated.
“About forty-eight million.”
Marcus looked at the screen.
“According to this, more than thirty-one million has been moved.”
Claire stopped breathing.
Ethan whispered.
“Claire.”
She turned.
“You knew?”
“I found out six months ago.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“It wasn’t that simple.”
“It seems pretty simple.”
Ethan leaned forward.
“My father started moving money years before we met.”
Claire froze.
“What?”
“He used shell companies.”
“Then why marry me?”
Ethan didn’t answer.
Claire already knew.
Her eyes filled, but she refused to cry.
“Was that why?”
Ethan looked away.
Claire repeated the question.
“Was that why you married me?”
Silence.
She nodded slowly.
Six years.
Six years of birthdays.
Christmas mornings.
Vacations.
Arguments.
Apologies.
Plans.
A nursery painted pale yellow.
A baby whose name they had chosen together.
All of it suddenly had a price tag.
Claire looked back at the screen.
Then she noticed another folder.
It was labeled:
PHASE TWO — AFTER DELIVERY.
Her blood ran cold.
“Open that.”
Ethan stood.
“Claire, don’t.”
Marcus clicked it.
Inside was a document.
PETITION FOR EMERGENCY GUARDIANSHIP.
Claire’s name appeared at the top.
And underneath it was the name of the person requesting control over her finances.
Ethan Bennett.
May you like
But the next page was worse.
It concerned custody of her unborn child.
