At eleven fifty-eight, Claire entered Bennett Tower alone.
At least that was what Grant was supposed to believe.
Dominic's people had positioned themselves across the building.
Mason monitored the security feeds from a van two blocks away.
Dominic had argued against Claire walking inside until she reminded him of something simple.
"Grant wants the ledger."
"He wants you dead."
"He could've arranged that months ago."
"He tried last night."
"No. Last night he wanted the box. If he wanted me dead, he wouldn't be negotiating."
Dominic had stared at her for several seconds.
Then he said quietly, "You think like someone who's spent a long time surviving difficult people."
Claire had answered, "I grew up with Natalie."
Now, as the elevator climbed toward the forty-second floor, she wondered whether the joke had been fair.
Natalie had been cruel.
But cruelty and murder were not the same.
The doors opened.
Grant waited inside the executive conference room.
Natalie sat beside him.
Her mascara had run.
A bruise marked one wrist.
Claire's stomach tightened.
Grant smiled.
"Claire."
"You look terrible."
He laughed.
"Still funny."
"I try."
His eyes moved toward her bag.
"The ledger."
Claire set it on the table.
Grant reached for it.
She placed one hand over the cover.
"First Natalie walks out."
"No."
"Then you don't get it."
Grant's smile vanished.
For years, Claire had seen him at holidays and board dinners. He had always been polished. Patient. Warm.
Now she saw what had been underneath.
Calculation.
"Your father had the same problem," he said.
Claire froze.
"What problem?"
"He thought morality made him stronger than everyone else."
Natalie stared at Grant.
"What are you talking about?"
Grant sighed.
"Thomas discovered certain financial arrangements."
Claire forced her voice steady.
"You killed him."
"I corrected a problem."
Natalie made a broken sound.
Grant barely looked at her.
"He planned to expose everything. Bennett Group would've collapsed. Thousands of employees would've suffered."
Claire's hands shook.
"You murdered him and called it management."
"I saved the company."
"No. You stole it."
Grant's eyes hardened.
"Your father had no understanding of the world he built."
"And Evelyn Hale?"
Grant smiled faintly.
"Much more complicated."
Claire realized he enjoyed this.
For fifteen years, he had hidden his intelligence behind charm.
Now he finally had an audience that understood what he had accomplished.
Dominic's voice sounded faintly through the tiny receiver concealed in Claire's earring.
Keep him talking.
Claire leaned against the table.
"Tell me."
Grant poured himself water.
"Evelyn discovered your father's files years after his death. She contacted me."
"Why?"
"She thought I would help."
Claire felt sick.
"Instead you killed her."
"Not personally."
Natalie stared at him.
"Oh my God."
Grant turned.
"Please don't become dramatic."
"You killed Claire's father?"
"Our father," Claire corrected.
Natalie's eyes moved to hers.
Something passed between them.
For the first time in years, they were not rivals.
They were daughters.
Grant continued.
"Evelyn hid copies of the evidence before she died. I spent six years searching for them."
"317."
"Exactly."
"But you didn't have the key."
"No."
Claire understood.
"Mason did."
Grant's smile widened.
"Almost."
The rain.
The coat.
The shooting.
Claire's mind raced.
"Someone planted Evelyn's coat at the scene."
Grant said nothing.
"You wanted the key discovered."
Still nothing.
"But why me?"
Grant looked delighted.
"Because you were perfect."
Natalie whispered, "What does that mean?"
Grant walked closer to Claire.
"You were invisible."
She stiffened.
"People ignored you. Your family dismissed you. Society barely noticed you. If the key surfaced with Claire Bennett, nobody would imagine it mattered."
His words should have hurt.
Instead, they clarified everything.
Grant had made the same mistake Natalie made.
He confused being underestimated with being powerless.
"You expected me to throw it away."
"Eventually."
"But I kept it."
"Sentimental people often create unnecessary complications."
Claire looked at Natalie.
"Did you know?"
Natalie's face collapsed.
"No."
"About any of this?"
"I knew Grant moved money through my trust. He told me it was tax planning."
Claire almost laughed from disbelief.
"You signed the authorizations?"
Natalie lowered her eyes.
"Some."
"How many?"
"I don't know."
Claire felt anger rise.
"How do you not know?"
"Because I trusted him!"
"You signed financial documents without reading them?"
Natalie shouted, "Not everyone wants to spend their life staring at spreadsheets!"
Silence.
Even now.
Even with death around them, Natalie could still find a way to insult Claire.
Then something extraordinary happened.
Natalie looked ashamed.
"I'm sorry."
Claire stared at her.
Natalie's voice broke.
"I am so sorry."
Grant rolled his eyes.
"Touching."
Claire looked at him.
"You forged the clinic transfers to frame me."
"Insurance."
"For what?"
"If you discovered too much, investigators would find evidence that you embezzled charity funds."
"And Natalie?"
Grant smiled.
"She would've been devastated."
Natalie whispered, "You were going to marry me."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because your voting shares become unrestricted after marriage under the family trust."
Claire understood.
"You wanted control of Bennett Group."
"I already control Bennett Group."
Grant picked up the ledger.
"I simply wanted the paperwork to catch up."
Claire stepped backward.
"Now let Natalie leave."
Grant opened the book.
He flipped several pages.
Then frowned.
The ledger was blank.
Every page.
"What is this?"
Claire smiled.
"A decoy."
Grant looked up.
"Where is the real ledger?"
"Somewhere you'll never reach."
His face changed.
Claire heard Dominic through her earpiece.
Now.
The conference room doors opened.
Dominic entered with Mason and two federal agents.
Grant grabbed Natalie.
A pistol appeared against her neck.
Everyone stopped.
Dominic's voice became deadly calm.
"Let her go."
Grant backed toward the windows.
"You think you've won?"
Claire looked at him.
"I think you're standing forty-two floors above Boston holding a hostage in front of federal agents while confessing to two murders."
Grant's expression shifted.
The earring.
He saw it.
"You recorded me."
Claire nodded.
Grant laughed once.
Then he fired.
Not at Natalie.
At Claire.
Dominic moved first.
He hit Claire hard enough to send them both to the floor.
The bullet shattered glass behind them.
Mason fired.
Grant's gun dropped.
Federal agents rushed him.
Natalie collapsed.
Claire lay beneath Dominic, ears ringing.
"Are you hurt?" he demanded.
"I don't think so."
His hand moved along her shoulder, checking.
"Dominic."
"What?"
"You can get off me."
He stared.
Then realized half the room was watching.
Claire smiled weakly.
"You are very heavy."
He actually laughed.
Just once.
A shocked, relieved sound.
Natalie crawled toward Claire.
For several seconds, neither sister knew what to say.
Then Natalie wrapped both arms around her.
Claire froze.
Natalie cried against her shoulder.
"I thought he was going to kill you."
Claire slowly hugged her back.
"I thought he was going to kill you."
"I'm sorry."
"We'll talk later."
"I was horrible to you."
"Yes."
Natalie laughed through tears.
Claire did too.
Then Dominic's phone rang.
The moment disappeared.
He answered.
His expression immediately darkened.
"What do you mean he's gone?"
Mason looked at him.
Dominic listened.
Then lowered the phone.
Claire knew before he spoke.
"Mason's attacker."
"What about him?"
"The man we've been searching for for eight months."
Dominic looked toward Grant.
"He just emptied a safe house and disappeared."
Claire frowned.
"Why now?"
Grant, bleeding from his shoulder but conscious, began laughing.
Everyone turned.
Claire stood.
"What?"
Grant smiled through the pain.
"You think I'm the end of this?"
Dominic walked toward him.
"Who attacked Mason?"
Grant's smile remained.
"You still don't understand."
"Understand what?"
Grant looked directly at Claire.
"Your father wasn't investigating me."
Claire's blood ran cold.
"He was investigating the person who taught me."
Silence filled the room.
Natalie whispered, "Who?"
Grant's eyes moved toward the city.
Then he said a name that changed everything again.
"Margaret Bennett."
Claire stopped breathing.
Her mother.
---