Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Wanted Everything
Elena Ward had not fallen in love with Vincent Moretti.
She had fallen in love with the power surrounding him.
And when she discovered that his wife unknowingly controlled the foundation of his fortune, love became unnecessary.
Three months earlier, Elena had met a man named Adrian Cross in a private restaurant in Manhattan.
Cross was a financial strategist with expensive suits, impeccable manners and a reputation for acquiring companies that were already dying.
He placed a folder on the table.
"Northstar Maritime Trust," he said.
Elena opened it.
"What am I looking at?"
"The real owner of Harbor Point."
She read the first page.
Then the second.
Her eyes widened.
"Claire?"
Cross smiled.
"The quiet wife who spends her afternoons organizing charity auctions."
Elena leaned back.
"Vincent doesn't know."
"Not yet."
"Why are you showing me?"
"Because you have access to his company. And I have access to people who can help us take control."
Elena closed the folder.
"How much?"
Cross smiled again.
"Enough that you'll never have to stand behind another man's wife at a charity dinner."
That was the beginning.
Elena began collecting internal documents.
She persuaded Vincent that Harbor Point needed emergency refinancing.
She arranged meetings with investors connected to Cross.
She gradually isolated Vincent from the finance team members who questioned the unusual transactions.
Then she forged Claire's authorization using an electronic signature obtained from a charity document.
The final stage required something more theatrical.
A public rupture.
If Claire left Vincent, Elena could present herself as the woman who understood his business and could stabilize the family organization.
The kiss had been designed to humiliate Claire.
The crest had been designed to convince investors that Elena possessed Moretti family authority.
But there was one problem.
Claire had not collapsed.
She had gone to Bennett Textile.
And within hours, Northstar had frozen the financing.
Now Elena was driving through Maine with Thomas Bennett in the passenger seat.
The older man looked out at the dark road.
"You're making a mistake."
Elena kept her eyes forward.
"You've said that three times."
"Because you're still making it."
"You should be grateful I'm taking you somewhere safer."
Thomas turned.
"Safer for whom?"
Elena said nothing.
Thomas studied her.
"You don't know who you're working for."
"I know exactly who Adrian Cross is."
Thomas gave a tired laugh.
"That's not his real name."
Elena's hands tightened around the steering wheel.
"What?"
"He used to be called Daniel Cross."
She glanced at him.
"That means nothing."
"It should."
Thomas looked back toward the road.
"His father helped run the operation that tried to kill me."
Elena felt a flicker of unease.
"Adrian told me you were involved in a corporate fraud investigation."
"Adrian tells people whatever gets him what he wants."
"He's paying me."
"That doesn't make you his partner."
Elena's phone rang.
Cross.
She answered through the car's speaker.
"Where are you?"
"Twenty minutes away."
"Good. Bring Bennett directly to the house."
Thomas leaned forward.
"Tell him I remember the insurance ledger."
Silence.
Then Cross spoke.
"Mr. Bennett. Still alive after all these years."
Thomas smiled faintly.
"Disappointed?"
Cross ignored him.
"Elena, don't stop anywhere."
The call ended.
Elena drove another mile before speaking.
"What ledger?"
Thomas turned toward her.
"A record of every illegal payment made through the Moretti shipping companies."
"Where is it?"
"Somewhere Cross can't reach."
Elena considered this.
"Could it clear my name?"
Thomas laughed bitterly.
"Your name? You forged my daughter's signature."
She went silent.
"How do you know?"
"Because Cross told me."
Elena's stomach tightened.
"Why would he tell you?"
"Because he doesn't intend to let you walk away."
Ahead, headlights appeared in the rearview mirror.
A black SUV.
Then another.
Elena accelerated.
Thomas looked behind them.
"Those aren't Vincent's men."
"How do you know?"
"Because Vincent's men wouldn't be pointing a rifle at our car."
Elena glanced into the mirror.
Her face drained.
A gunman leaned from the trailing vehicle.
"Get down!" Thomas shouted.
The rear window exploded.
Elena screamed.
She swerved across the road.
The SUV struck a guardrail and spun into a ditch.
Airbags deployed.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Thomas unbuckled his seat belt.
"Can you walk?"
Elena groaned.
"I think so."
"Then move."
He pulled her through the passenger door.
They stumbled into the trees as the pursuing vehicles stopped.
Men shouted.
Flashlights cut through the darkness.
Elena clutched Thomas's sleeve.
"Why are you helping me?"
He looked at her.
"Because my daughter would never forgive me if I left someone to die when I could save them."
They ran.
Back in Boston, Claire and Vincent were preparing to leave for Maine when Marco received an emergency alert.
A vehicle matching Elena's SUV had crashed near the coastal property.
Police were responding.
Two unidentified vehicles had fled.
Vincent turned to Claire.
"We need to move."
Claire grabbed her coat.
Rebecca stopped her.
"There's something you should see first."
She opened a newly recovered Northstar document.
A private adoption record.
Margaret Bennett's signature appeared at the bottom.
The infant's original name had been redacted.
But the adoptive family's surname remained.
WARD.
Claire stared at the page.
"Elena?"
Rebecca shook her head.
"The dates don't match. Margaret's daughter would be much older."
"Then who?"
Rebecca pointed to the second page.
The child had been adopted by Eleanor and James Ward.
Thirty-seven years later, she gave birth to a daughter.
Elena Ward.
Claire slowly sat down.
Elena was Margaret Bennett's granddaughter.
May you like
Her cousin.
And the woman who had tried to steal everything from her.
