Chapter 8 - THE CHILD ELIZABETH HID
Claire thought Thomas was confused.
He wasn’t.
Grant Ashford was not Vivian’s biological son.
He was Elizabeth Bennett’s.
Claire’s mother.
Before marrying Thomas, Elizabeth had become pregnant during a brief relationship.
Vivian, unable to have children and desperate to preserve her marriage at the time, secretly adopted the baby within the family.
The records were sealed.
Grant grew up believing Vivian was his mother.
Thomas had discovered the truth shortly before the crash.
Claire stared through the window.
“Grant is my brother?”
“Half-brother.”
“Does he know?”
“No.”
Thomas had kept the secret because it changed the inheritance.
Elizabeth’s trust did not name Claire alone.
It named her “living biological issue.”
If Grant proved Elizabeth was his mother, he had a legitimate claim.
Vivian had spent decades concealing that fact.
Ethan suddenly understood something.
“Then Vivian wasn't protecting Grant’s inheritance.”
Thomas nodded.
“She was protecting herself from Grant.”
If Grant learned the truth, Vivian could lose control of everything.
Grant entered the house.
He was furious.
“You disappeared without telling me.”
Then he saw Thomas.
His face changed.
“Who are you?”
Thomas looked at him for a long time.
“Your name was Benjamin.”
Grant laughed once.
“What?”
“Elizabeth named you Benjamin.”
Grant looked at Claire.
She could barely speak.
“He says Mom was your mother.”
Grant stared at Thomas.
Then at Claire.
Then shook his head.
“No.”
Thomas showed him the documents.
Birth records.
Letters from Elizabeth.
A photograph of Elizabeth holding an infant.
On the back:
Benjamin, three days old.
Grant sat down.
Twenty minutes later, he was still staring at the photograph.
Then Melissa called.
Ethan answered.
Her voice was frantic.
“Ethan, get Claire away from Thomas.”
Everyone froze.
“Why?”
“I found the original police file.”
Thomas looked toward the phone.
Melissa continued.
“Thomas Bennett wasn't just investigating the contaminated land.”
“What else?”
“He was under investigation himself.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Melissa’s next sentence detonated the fragile trust in the room.
“Police believed Thomas embezzled eleven million dollars from the company before the crash.”
Claire stared at her father.
“Is that true?”
Thomas did not answer quickly enough.
Ethan knew.
“Yes,” Thomas said.
Claire backed away.
“You stole it?”
“I moved it.”
“That's stealing.”
“I was trying to stop Vivian from using it.”
“Where did it go?”
Thomas looked at her.
“Into your trust.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“So all of this started because of money.”
“No.”
“Everything is money!”
She pointed toward herself.
“Twenty years!”
Thomas’s face broke.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Then Ethan’s phone rang.
Rachel.
“We found Vivian.”
“Where?”
“At the county hospital.”
“What happened?”
“She turned herself in.”
Ethan frowned.
That made no sense.
Rachel continued.
“And she says she wants to confess.”
Claire looked at Ethan.
“To what?”
Rachel’s answer surprised everyone.
“To locking Claire away.”
May you like
A pause.
“But she says she did it to keep Claire alive.”
