Chapter 10 - The Pregnancy That Changed Everything
Claire stared at the page.
“Dad?”
Richard looked equally surprised.
A Beaumont-controlled investment entity appeared beside several transactions.
Claire turned toward him.
“Tell me you knew nothing about this.”
“I knew nothing about this.”
Margaret examined the records.
“Richard, don't say anything else until we establish what this is.”
Claire's heart pounded.
For the first time since calling her father, certainty disappeared.
Had he been protecting Adrian?
Had he secretly participated?
Then the forensic accountant noticed something.
The Beaumont entity listed in the ledger had been dissolved six years earlier.
Three years before Claire married Adrian.
Someone had reused its identity.
“Why?” Claire asked.
Margaret answered.
“Because anyone performing a superficial review might assume the transactions had Beaumont backing.”
Claire understood immediately.
Her family name had been used as a shield.
Again.
Richard's expression became colder than Claire had ever seen.
“Find out who did it.”
The answer arrived that afternoon.
Adrian.
His authorization appeared in archived correspondence recovered from Elliot's backup.
Claire felt the last thread connecting her to her husband snap.
There would be no reconciliation.
No explanation capable of repairing this.
Adrian had not simply betrayed her emotionally.
He had weaponized her identity.
Meanwhile, Vanessa gave a sworn statement.
She admitted the affair.
The false claim about the baby's father.
The hidden accounts.
Her involvement in concealing records.
She also admitted something Claire had not expected.
“Adrian didn't ask me to provoke Claire at dinner.”
Claire looked at her.
“You did that yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Vanessa's eyes lowered.
“Jealousy.”
“Of me?”
“You had what I wanted.”
Claire almost smiled at the absurdity.
“What did I have?”
“A husband who came home to you.”
Claire stared at her.
“He was sleeping with you.”
“I know.”
“Then what exactly were you jealous of?”
Vanessa's eyes filled.
“The way he talked about you before he started hating you.”
Claire froze.
“What did he say?”
“That you were the only person who ever believed in him before he had money.”
Claire looked away.
For a moment, grief returned.
Not grief for Adrian.
Grief for the marriage that might have existed if ambition had not consumed him.
Vanessa wiped her eyes.
“I wanted him to choose me.”
“And did he?”
Vanessa looked down at her stomach.
“I don't think Adrian ever chose anyone except himself.”
Claire couldn't disagree.
Outside the office, reporters were beginning to gather.
The story had escaped.
By evening, Vale Meridian was headline news.
And Adrian Vale was about to learn that losing his company was far easier than losing his reputation.
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