Chapter 9 - The Boy Who Didn't Know His Father
We returned to Chicago because running had stopped working.
Not to the Ashford mansion.
I refused.
Graham placed us in a secure penthouse owned by Daniel.
Owen pressed his face against the windows.
“That's a lot of buildings.”
“Chicago has several,” Graham said.
I looked at him.
“That may be the least interesting explanation of Chicago ever given.”
Owen giggled.
Graham almost smiled.
Then Owen asked, “Is this where you live?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you come get us?”
Silence.
Children have a talent for finding wounds.
Graham crouched.
“Because I thought your mom deserved a life away from me.”
“What about me?”
Graham's expression broke.
“You deserved better than what I gave you.”
Owen considered him.
Then he held out a toy dinosaur.
“You can play with this one.”
It was forgiveness in the language of a five-year-old.
Graham accepted it like something sacred.
That afternoon, Daniel arrived with news.
Vanessa wanted a meeting.
“She says she can prove Sebastian forged several documents.”
“Why should we believe her?” I asked.
“We shouldn't.”
Graham agreed to meet anyway.
Vanessa chose a public restaurant.
I watched remotely from the penthouse.
She looked older.
Still beautiful.
Less certain.
“You think I betrayed you,” she told Graham.
“You did.”
“I survived.”
“By helping Sebastian.”
“Your grandfather destroyed my family.”
“August discovered your theft.”
“My father's company collapsed because of him.”
“So you used me.”
Vanessa's eyes hardened.
“At first.”
Graham said nothing.
“Then I loved you.”
“No.”
“You don't get to decide that.”
“I get to decide what love looks like to me now.”
Vanessa laughed.
“Claire taught you that?”
“No. Losing Claire did.”
I stopped breathing.
Vanessa did too.
Then she leaned forward.
“Sebastian has the original trust.”
“We have copies.”
“He has something else.”
“What?”
“Your grandfather's final codicil.”
Graham frowned.
“What codicil?”
“The document that activates if anyone attempts to harm, coerce, or control Owen.”
My heart raced.
“What does it do?”
Vanessa looked directly toward the hidden camera.
Almost as though she knew I was watching.
“It transfers Sebastian's entire voting stake.”
“To whom?”
“Claire.”
I stared at the screen.
Graham looked equally stunned.
Vanessa smiled.
“That is why Sebastian doesn't merely need Owen gone.”
Her eyes fixed on the camera.
“He needs Claire to voluntarily surrender her rights.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered before thinking.
Sebastian's voice.
“Now you understand.”
I stood.
“How did you get this number?”
“Claire, we've been playing this game for five years.”
“What do you want?”
“Nothing complicated.”
“Then say it.”
“Sign away the voting rights August left you.”
“And if I don't?”
He laughed softly.
“Ask Graham what happened to his mother.”
The call ended.
I looked toward the screen.
Graham had gone completely still.
Later, when he returned, I confronted him.
“What happened to your mother?”
He didn't answer.
“Graham.”
His face had lost all color.
Finally he whispered:
“She tried to leave the Ashfords too.”
“And?”
He looked at me.
May you like
“She never made it out of Chicago.”
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