Chapter 10 - Claire’s Confession
Daniel survived.
The bullet entered below his shoulder and missed the artery by less than an inch.
Nathaniel rode beside him in the ambulance despite Daniel's protests.
Arthur Voss had been arrested.
Federal agents were on their way.
The old Graves world was beginning to crack open.
Nathaniel should have felt relief.
Instead, his mind remained fixed on Claire and Ruby.
He called.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
He called the security team at Evelyn's house.
No response.
Nathaniel stood in the hospital corridor.
“Get me a car.”
One of his men hesitated.
“Sir, federal investigators requested—”
Nathaniel's stare stopped him.
“Car.”
Twenty-three minutes later, he reached the estate.
The front gate hung open.
A guard lay unconscious beside the driveway.
Nathaniel entered with his weapon raised.
“Claire!”
No answer.
“Ruby!”
Nothing.
He reached the kitchen.
Broken glass.
Blood.
A knife on the floor.
Nathaniel stopped breathing.
Then Ruby came running from the hallway.
“Nate!”
Nathaniel dropped the weapon onto the table and caught her.
He hadn't intended to hug her so tightly.
Ruby didn't complain.
Claire entered behind her.
Nathaniel looked over Ruby's head.
Claire was unharmed.
“Dominic?”
“Gone.”
Nathaniel released Ruby.
“What happened?”
Claire looked toward the living room.
Victor sat there holding an ice pack against his face.
Nathaniel immediately became angry.
“You.”
Victor sighed.
“Good to see you too.”
“Explain.”
Claire stepped between them.
“Dominic came to warn us.”
Nathaniel stared.
“About what?”
“Arthur.”
“He's in custody.”
“Not only Arthur.”
Victor placed a folder on the table.
“Dominic gave Claire this.”
Nathaniel opened it.
Copies of Malcolm's ledger.
His eyes scanned names.
Judges.
Police officers.
Business owners.
Politicians.
Then one name stopped him.
Claire Bennett.
Payment: $250,000.
Nathaniel's eyes lifted.
“What is this?”
Claire's face changed.
“It's not what you think.”
“Then tell me what to think.”
Ruby was still in the room.
Claire looked toward her.
Ruby sighed dramatically.
“I'm going upstairs because apparently this is another adult secret.”
Nathaniel almost smiled.
Ruby pointed at both of them.
“But you have to tell me later if it's about me.”
Claire nodded.
“Okay.”
Ruby left.
Nathaniel turned back.
“Claire.”
She sat.
Eight years of silence appeared on her face.
“I took money from Malcolm.”
Nathaniel stared.
“When?”
“Before I disappeared.”
“Why?”
“To make him think I was willing to leave you.”
Nathaniel didn't understand.
Claire continued.
“He confronted me.”
“About the pregnancy?”
“Yes.”
“He offered you money.”
“To disappear.”
“And you accepted.”
“I needed him to believe I cared more about money than you.”
Nathaniel walked away.
Claire's voice followed.
“I used the money to build the escape.”
“You could have told me.”
“He watched you constantly.”
“You always say that.”
“Because it's true.”
Nathaniel turned.
“Do you know what I thought when I saw your name beside that payment?”
“What?”
“For one second, I wondered if everything between us had been fake.”
Claire flinched.
Nathaniel regretted it immediately.
She stood.
“You think I wanted to leave?”
“I don't know what to think anymore.”
“Then think about an eight-month-pregnant woman sitting across from Malcolm Graves while he told her exactly how easily he could make her child disappear.”
Nathaniel went silent.
Claire's eyes filled.
“He knew where my mother lived. He knew where you slept. He knew what doctor I visited. He knew the name I had chosen if the baby was a girl.”
Nathaniel's face tightened.
“Ruby?”
“Yes.”
Claire wiped her cheek.
“I realized if I told you, you would confront him.”
“She was my child.”
“And you were reckless.”
“I would have killed him.”
“Exactly.”
Nathaniel stopped.
Claire whispered, “And then what? His men kill you? I raise Ruby in a war?”
Nathaniel lowered his eyes.
Claire continued.
“I chose the only way I could see.”
“You chose without me.”
“Yes.”
“That's the part I can't forgive.”
“I know.”
Silence.
Then Claire said something he didn't expect.
“I don't forgive myself either.”
Nathaniel looked up.
“For what?”
“For every birthday when Ruby asked why she didn't have a father.”
Nathaniel's anger faded.
Claire sat again.
“She made Father's Day cards at school because every other child did.”
Nathaniel's throat tightened.
“What happened to them?”
“I kept them.”
He stared.
Claire looked toward an old cabinet.
She walked to it.
Pulled out a small box.
Inside were drawings.
Cards.
Crayon hearts.
One read:
TO MY DAD IN HEAVEN. I HOPE YOU KNOW I AM GOOD AT MATH.
Nathaniel stopped breathing.
Claire handed it to him.
His hands shook.
“She was five.”
Nathaniel sat.
He covered his mouth.
Claire looked away to give him privacy.
For several moments, the feared King of Aldridge silently cried over a piece of folded construction paper.
When he finally spoke, his voice was broken.
“I missed everything.”
Claire knelt beside him.
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
“I don't know how to get that back.”
“You don't.”
Nathaniel nodded.
Claire continued.
“You can only decide what you do with what's left.”
He looked toward the staircase.
Ruby was somewhere above them.
Alive.
Safe.
For now.
Nathaniel folded the card carefully.
“Can I keep this?”
Claire smiled through tears.
“It was always yours.”
Something shifted between them.
Not forgiveness.
Not yet.
But the beginning of something gentler.
Victor interrupted.
“I hate to destroy the moment.”
Nathaniel wiped his face immediately.
“You seem to enjoy doing that.”
Victor held up the ledger.
“Dominic gave us only twenty pages.”
“How many total?”
“Two hundred fourteen.”
Nathaniel's expression hardened.
“Where are the rest?”
“Dominic kept them.”
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
Nathaniel stood.
“Against who?”
“Everyone.”
Claire asked, “What does he want?”
Victor looked toward Nathaniel.
“A public confession.”
Nathaniel laughed.
“Of what?”
“Your role in the old Graves organization.”
Nathaniel's expression darkened.
Victor continued.
“He'll release the ledger if you refuse.”
Claire looked at Nathaniel.
“Would that be bad?”
“For criminals? Very.”
“For you?”
Nathaniel didn't answer.
Victor did.
“It could put him in prison.”
Claire stared.
Nathaniel closed the box containing Ruby's cards.
“When does Dominic want an answer?”
“Tomorrow at noon.”
Nathaniel nodded.
“I'll do it.”
Victor frowned.
“You don't even know his conditions.”
“I know enough.”
Claire stepped forward.
“Nathaniel.”
He looked at her.
“You could go to prison.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“I don't know.”
Ruby's voice came from the stairs.
“Why would Nate go to prison?”
Everyone froze.
She had been sitting halfway down the staircase.
Claire closed her eyes.
Ruby descended slowly.
Nathaniel stood.
“Ruby.”
“You said no more lies.”
“I know.”
“Did you do crimes?”
Nathaniel looked at Claire.
Then at Victor.
Then back at Ruby.
“Yes.”
Ruby's eyes filled.
“Bad ones?”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill people?”
Nathaniel's voice became quiet.
“I was responsible for things that hurt people.”
Ruby swallowed.
“Are you going to jail?”
“I don't know.”
She looked angry.
“You just got here.”
Nathaniel's heart broke.
“I know.”
“You don't get to leave now.”
“I don't want to.”
“Then don't.”
“It may not be my choice.”
Ruby walked toward him.
“You're rich.”
Nathaniel almost laughed sadly.
“That doesn't make consequences disappear.”
“Then why are you choosing to tell?”
Nathaniel looked at the nine-hundred-dollar bill still folded in his pocket.
He removed it.
Ruby recognized it.
“Because you returned this.”
Her brow furrowed.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“You could have kept it.”
“But it wasn't mine.”
Nathaniel nodded.
“And there are things I kept because I convinced myself I deserved them.”
Ruby looked at him.
“Did you?”
“No.”
The room became silent.
Nathaniel folded the bill again.
“You taught me that.”
Ruby stepped closer.
Then, for the first time, she hugged him without fear.
Nathaniel closed his eyes.
Claire watched.
Victor looked away.
Ruby whispered into Nathaniel's jacket.
“I still don't like that you might leave.”
“Neither do I.”
“Promise you'll come back.”
Nathaniel hesitated.
Ruby pulled away.
“You can't promise?”
“I won't lie to you.”
Her face crumpled slightly.
Nathaniel knelt.
“But I promise I'll do everything I can to become someone worth coming back to.”
Ruby stared at him.
Then nodded.
The next morning at 11:58, Nathaniel arrived at the courthouse plaza where Dominic had ordered him to appear.
Reporters were already there.
Hundreds.
Someone had leaked the meeting.
Nathaniel stepped from the car.
Claire called his phone.
“Nathaniel.”
“Yes?”
“There's something you need to know before you speak.”
He stopped.
“What?”
Her voice shook.
“I found another page in the ledger.”
“About what?”
“Ruby's birth certificate.”
Nathaniel's stomach tightened.
“What about it?”
May you like
Claire whispered:
“Your name isn't the only father's name that was ever recorded.”
