Chapter 17 - CLAIRE’S IMPOSSIBLE CHOICEClaire refused to believe Hannah was involved.
Ethan did not say the obvious thing.
That Claire sounded exactly like he had sounded about Marcus.
She noticed anyway.
“You can say it.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Say it.”
“You’re too close.”
Claire glared.
“So were you.”
“Yes.”
“That’s irritating.”
“I learned from someone terrifyingly organized.”
Claire almost smiled.
Almost.
Police searched Hannah’s office.
They found nothing.
Then her financial records revealed a payment.
$280,000.
Transferred three weeks before the explosion.
From a shell company connected to Richard Bennett’s old holdings.
Hannah looked stunned.
“I’ve never seen this.”
Claire wanted to believe her.
Ortiz asked:
“Who has access to your accounts?”
“My accountant.”
“Anyone else?”
Hannah hesitated.
“My husband.”
Claire blinked.
Hannah had rarely spoken about Eric.
Quiet.
Private.
A financial adviser.
Then everything shifted.
Eric Park disappeared that night.
His car was found at Sea-Tac.
His passport was gone.
Claire sat in the police station at 4:00 a.m.
Hannah cried beside her.
“I didn’t know.”
Claire held her.
The words felt painfully familiar.
I didn’t know.
How many lives were built on that sentence?
Investigators reconstructed the scheme.
Eric had discovered records linking Richard Bennett to hidden investment accounts.
He began siphoning money.
When Tacoma threatened to expose ownership records during financing audits, Eric panicked.
He sabotaged the site intending to destroy a records room.
The fire spread farther than planned.
Three people nearly died.
Then he used Adrian, Thomas, Marcus and Hannah as distractions.
Claire felt sick.
Ethan sat across from her.
Their eyes met.
Neither spoke.
Eric was arrested in Vancouver forty-eight hours later.
The immediate danger ended.
The emotional damage did not.
Hannah resigned temporarily.
Northline’s board asked Claire to become interim managing partner.
She accepted.
Then came the second problem.
The hidden accounts contained more than eleven million dollars.
Legally, much of it belonged to the Bennett estate.
Ethan could keep it.
Instead, he called Claire.
“I’m giving it back.”
“To whom?”
“Everyone we can identify.”
“And the rest?”
“A housing trust in Evelyn Shaw’s name.”
Claire went silent.
“Ethan.”
“What?”
“I love you.”
He stopped breathing.
They said it often now.
But this one felt different.
“Say that again.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“You heard me.”
“I’d like confirmation.”
She smiled.
“Come home.”
Twenty minutes later, he did.
Claire met him at the door.
Ethan barely removed his coat before she kissed him.
When they separated:
“What was that for?”
“For becoming someone your father would not recognize.”
Ethan’s expression softened.
“I think he would.”
Claire touched his face.
“Then someone he’d wish he had become.”
That night, for the first time in weeks, they slept peacefully.
Until 6:07 a.m.
Claire woke.
Ran to the bathroom.
And threw up.
Ethan appeared behind her.
“Food poisoning?”
Claire stared at him through the mirror.
Then at the calendar on her phone.
Her face changed.
Ethan noticed.
“What?”
Claire slowly turned.
“Oh.”
“What does ‘oh’ mean?”
She looked terrified.
Then happy.
Then terrified again.
“I’m late.”
Ethan frowned.
“For what?”
Claire stared at him.
“Ethan.”
Understanding arrived.
May you like
His face went completely blank.
“Oh.”
