Chapter 14 - THE MOTHER WHO NEVER DIED
Claire didn't tell Vincent.
She didn't tell the board.
She didn't tell the authorities.
She told only Nicholas.
And Eva.
The three of them spent the night inside a secure apartment overlooking Chicago.
Jonathan was furious.
“You cannot go after Vale.”
Claire looked at him.
“You spent eleven years hiding.”
“I was protecting you.”
“And where did that get us?”
Jonathan had no answer.
Eva sat silently near the window.
Claire looked at her.
“You said my mother is alive.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Then how do you know?”
Eva pulled out another photograph.
It showed a woman standing beside the sea.
Older.
Dark hair.
A scar near her left temple.
Claire knew immediately.
Her mother.
Eleanor Bennett.
Alive.
The photograph had been taken three weeks earlier.
Claire's knees almost gave way.
“She looks alive.”
“She is.”
“Where?”
Eva pointed to the background.
A lighthouse.
Nicholas examined the image.
“Portugal.”
Jonathan immediately shook his head.
“No.”
Claire looked at him.
“You recognize it.”
Jonathan's silence answered.
“What is it?”
“The Eden House.”
Claire frowned.
“What?”
“An old estate.”
“Owned by whom?”
“Your mother.”
Claire stared.
“You said she was dead.”
“I believed she was.”
Eva looked at him.
“You believed what they wanted you to believe.”
Nicholas enlarged the photograph.
There was a tiny figure near the lighthouse.
A man.
Daniel Vale.
Claire stood.
“We're going.”
Jonathan grabbed her arm.
“No.”
She pulled away.
“Dad.”
“If you go there, Eden will know.”
“They already know.”
“They want you there.”
“Then I'll go.”
Nicholas stood.
“I'll come.”
Eva nodded.
“So will I.”
Jonathan looked at all three.
“This is exactly what Vale wants.”
Claire answered quietly.
“Then we'll make sure he regrets getting it.”
Two days later, they arrived in Portugal.
The estate was empty.
Too empty.
No guards.
No cameras.
No vehicles.
The front door was unlocked.
Claire entered first.
Inside, everything was untouched.
Photographs covered the walls.
Her mother.
Her father.
Claire as a child.
Eva as a baby.
Claire stopped.
“Why would Eden keep these?”
Eva stared at the photographs.
“They weren't Eden's.”
“Then whose?”
“Mother's.”
Nicholas found a hidden room behind the library.
Inside was a desk.
On it sat a single tape recorder.
Claire pressed play.
Eleanor's voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this, then Daniel failed.”
Claire's eyes filled.
“Claire, I know you will hate me.”
A pause.
“I deserve it.”
Jonathan covered his mouth.
Eleanor continued.
“I never wanted to abandon either of you.”
The tape crackled.
“I made a deal with Eden because they had Eva.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“I believed I could save her.”
The recording continued.
“But Eden did not want money.”
“They wanted knowledge.”
“They wanted the Bennett network.”
Claire looked at Jonathan.
“They wanted everything.”
“Yes,” Jonathan whispered.
Eleanor's voice became weaker.
“So I gave them part of it.”
The tape stopped.
Then restarted.
“But I kept one secret.”
Claire leaned closer.
“The true Bennett inheritance was never the companies.”
A long silence.
“It was the Eden key.”
Nicholas frowned.
“What key?”
The tape continued.
“The key is not an object.”
Claire froze.
“It is a person.”
The recording ended.
Silence.
Eva slowly turned toward Claire.
“No.”
Claire stared at her.
“What?”
Eva whispered:
“You.”
Nicholas's face hardened.
“Why Claire?”
Eva shook her head.
“Because Claire wasn't just the beneficiary.”
She looked toward the old photographs.
“She was the access code.”
A door slammed upstairs.
Nicholas drew his weapon.
Footsteps approached.
Then a woman's voice echoed through the hallway.
“Claire?”
Claire stopped breathing.
She knew that voice.
She had heard it in childhood.
She had heard it in dreams.
She had heard it the day her mother supposedly died.
Claire walked toward the doorway.
A woman appeared.
Older.
Scarred.
But unmistakable.
Eleanor Bennett.
Claire's mother.
Alive.
Claire couldn't move.
Eleanor looked at her daughter.
“I'm sorry.”
Claire whispered:
“Mom?”
Eleanor's eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
Claire ran toward her.
Then stopped inches away.
Twenty-five years of questions stood between them.
“Why?”
Eleanor cried.
“Because I was trying to save you.”
Claire shook her head.
“You should have come home.”
“I couldn't.”
“You should have told me.”
“I couldn't.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
Eleanor nodded.
“I know.”
Then she looked at Eva.
“My other daughter.”
Eva turned away.
Eleanor whispered:
“Forgive me.”
Eva's voice broke.
“I don't know how.”
A gunshot exploded outside.
Nicholas pulled everyone down.
Eleanor screamed.
Then Daniel Vale's voice came through the speakers.
“Family reunions are beautiful.”
Claire looked toward the ceiling.
Vale continued.
“Especially when everyone finally arrives.”
The doors locked.
Smoke began filling the hallway.
Nicholas shouted:
“Move!”
Claire grabbed her mother.
Eva grabbed Jonathan.
The four of them ran.
But before they reached the exit, every screen in the estate switched on.
A photograph appeared.
Claire.
Pregnant.
Standing beside Vincent.
Then another.
Lily.
Then a final image.
The Bennett family.
All four generations.
Vale's voice returned.
“You still think this is about your inheritance.”
Claire stared at the screen.
“What do you want?”
Vale laughed.
“I don't want your money.”
The screen changed.
A map of America appeared.
Red points spread across major cities.
“I want what your family has controlled for seventy years.”
Claire's face hardened.
“What?”
May you like
Vale answered:
“The country.”
