Chapter 7 - THE FATHER SHE NEVER KNEWClaire sat on the cemetery wall until sunrise.
Nobody knew what to say to her.
The man she had called Father for thirty-one years had used her to infiltrate Dominic’s life.
The man she had feared for three days might have murdered Evelyn was apparently her biological father.
Nathan Cross.
Dominic handed Claire the photograph.
She stared at it.
“This could be anything.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t know that baby is me.”
“No.”
“Evelyn could have been wrong.”
“Yes.”
Claire looked up sharply.
“Stop agreeing with me.”
Dominic almost smiled.
It vanished quickly.
“We verify it.”
DNA made the truth simple.
Marcus found a blood sample from Nathan’s annual medical screening in the estate physician’s archived records.
By evening, a private laboratory confirmed it.
Nathan Cross was Claire Bennett’s biological father.
Richard Bennett had raised her.
Claire locked herself in the guest room for two hours.
When she emerged, she looked different.
Not weaker.
Harder.
“My father called.”
Dominic understood which father she meant.
“Bennett?”
“Yes.”
“He wants to meet.”
“Where?”
“An abandoned train depot near Poughkeepsie.”
Marcus shook his head immediately.
“Trap.”
“Obviously,” Dominic said.
Claire looked at him.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
“You don’t control me.”
“No. But Nathan does, apparently, and I’m not giving him what he wants.”
Claire’s jaw tightened.
“What if Bennett can explain?”
“He can explain to me.”
“He won’t.”
Mia had been listening from the doorway.
“Then let Claire go.”
Dominic looked at her.
Claire did too.
Mia continued.
“With protection.”
Dominic frowned.
“You’re suggesting bait.”
“I’m suggesting Claire deserves answers.”
Claire stared at the woman she had helped lure into a cellar.
“Why are you helping me?”
Mia’s answer was quiet.
“Because being hurt by someone doesn’t mean I have to become them.”
Claire looked away.
The meeting was arranged for midnight.
Dominic arrived first with Marcus and six men positioned outside the depot.
Claire entered alone.
Dominic watched through a camera hidden in her coat.
Richard Bennett appeared twelve minutes later.
He looked twenty years older than the polished senator Dominic remembered.
Claire faced him.
“Is Nathan my father?”
Bennett closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Claire slapped him.
The sound echoed through Dominic’s earpiece.
Bennett accepted it.
“Your mother had an affair with Nathan before we married. She died giving birth to you.”
“And you raised me?”
“You were mine from the moment I held you.”
“Then why use me?”
Bennett’s face twisted.
“Because Nathan threatened you.”
Claire stopped.
“He told me if I didn’t place you close to Dominic, he would expose everything I had done for Lantern.”
“So you sacrificed me to protect your career.”
“No.”
Bennett stepped forward.
“I sacrificed my career years ago. I did terrible things because I convinced myself influence mattered more than decency. But you—”
A gunshot cracked.
Bennett jerked backward.
Claire screamed.
Dominic was moving before Bennett hit the floor.
“Contact!”
Marcus’s men converged.
A second shot shattered glass above Claire.
Dominic tackled her behind a concrete pillar.
“Where?”
Marcus pointed toward the upper platform.
A figure ran.
Dominic pursued.
He reached the stairs as the shooter jumped from the rear platform into a waiting vehicle.
Dominic fired at a tire.
Missed.
The vehicle disappeared.
He returned to Bennett.
Mia’s voice came through Dominic’s phone.
She had stayed at the estate with Harper and Isabella.
“Is Claire okay?”
“Yes.”
“Bennett?”
Dominic knelt.
The senator was alive.
Barely.
Bennett grabbed Dominic’s sleeve.
“Listen.”
“I’m listening.”
“Nathan doesn’t want money anymore.”
“What does he want?”
“Your name.”
Dominic frowned.
Bennett coughed.
“He spent his life beside your family. Your father never treated him as equal. Lantern was supposed to change that.”
“Where is he?”
Bennett whispered an address.
Then added:
“He has someone inside your house.”
Dominic froze.
“Who?”
But Bennett lost consciousness.
Dominic called Mia.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
His blood turned cold.
“Marcus, get the cars.”
They drove back at dangerous speed.
The estate gates stood open.
One guard lay unconscious beside the security booth.
Dominic ran inside.
“Mia!”
No answer.
“Harper!”
He reached the upstairs bedroom.
Empty.
The window stood open.
On Harper’s bed lay her wooden music box.
Beside it was a phone.
It rang.
Dominic answered.
Nathan.
“You always were predictable, brother.”
“If you hurt them—”
“I won’t.”
“Where are Mia and Harper?”
“With me.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Nathan continued.
“Bring the ledger to the old Vale paper mill at sunrise.”
“You want Lantern?”
“I want what your father denied me.”
“What?”
“Everything.”
The line disconnected.
Dominic turned.
Isabella stood behind him.
Blood ran from a cut at her temple.
“I’m sorry.”
“Who took them?”
May you like
Her answer made him stop.
“Mrs. Gable.”
