Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN CLAIRE FEARED
Claire returned to the estate the following morning.
She wore no makeup, her hair was pulled into a loose knot, and her eyes were swollen. She had deliberately chosen a plain sweater instead of the tailored clothes she normally wore.
Everything about her appearance had been designed to suggest vulnerability.
Nathan met her in the library.
Dolores remained outside the door.
“You said Emma was sent here,” Nathan began. “By whom?”
Claire removed a folder from her bag.
“My family hired a private investigator after I noticed how interested she was in you.”
“You investigated an employee without telling me?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From a woman you framed for theft?”
Claire flinched.
“I know what I did was wrong. I panicked.”
“Show me the folder.”
The documents included Emma’s employment history, medical debt, abandoned nursing studies, and financial records.
Nathan felt sick reading them.
Claire had obtained details no employer had the right to possess.
Near the back was a copy of a bank deposit showing that Emma had received twenty-five thousand dollars shortly before joining the Cole estate.
“The money came from an organization called Bennett Consulting,” Claire said.
Nathan looked up.
“Bennett?”
“Dolores Bennett.”
Nathan’s eyes moved toward the closed library door.
Claire continued carefully.
“Dolores arranged Emma’s employment. She paid her before she arrived. Then she began recording me.”
The pieces appeared to fit.
Too easily.
“What do you think they wanted?”
“Control. Perhaps blackmail. Perhaps they intended to create a scandal that would force you to pay them.”
Nathan studied the deposit.
“Why would Emma keep working if she already received twenty-five thousand dollars?”
“Because the money was an advance.”
Claire sat across from him.
“You trust Dolores because she worked for your mother. But your mother never trusted people as blindly as you do.”
Nathan’s face hardened.
“Do not use my mother to manipulate me.”
“I’m not. I’m reminding you that loyalty can be performed.”
She placed her engagement ring on the desk.
“I don’t expect you to put this back on my hand today. I only ask that you let me attend the engagement celebration and explain everything privately afterward. My father’s condition is fragile. Canceling publicly could destroy him.”
The request sounded reasonable.
That was Claire’s greatest talent.
She could wrap self-interest in concern for someone else.
Nathan told her the wedding remained postponed, but the celebration would proceed as a charity event for the Cole Foundation.
Claire agreed.
Before leaving, she stopped at the door.
“Ask Dolores about the twenty-five thousand dollars.”
Nathan did.
Dolores showed no surprise when he placed the bank record in front of her.
“I expected Claire to find it eventually.”
“Then it’s real?”
“Yes.”
“You paid Emma before she came here?”
“I transferred money to her mother.”
Nathan stared at her.
“Janet Reed?”
“Janet was my younger sister.”
The room became silent.
Dolores sat behind her desk and slowly removed the pins holding her silver hair. Without the severe knot, she appeared older and more tired.
“Our father was violent,” she said. “I left home at eighteen. Janet was twelve. I tried to take her with me, but my parents reported me to the police. By the time I had enough money and stability to return, they had moved.”
“Emma doesn’t know?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Janet refused contact when I finally found her. She had built a life and wanted nothing from the sister she believed abandoned her.”
“But you sent her money.”
“Quietly. The twenty-five thousand dollars was repayment for medical expenses I had covered through an account in Janet’s name. After she died, the remaining funds transferred to Emma.”
“So Emma wasn’t hired to approach me.”
“Emma did not even know Bennett Consulting belonged to me.”
Nathan sank into the chair opposite her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Janet’s story was not yours to hear.”
Dolores opened a drawer and removed a faded photograph.
Two girls stood beside a lake. The older one had Dolores’s serious eyes. The younger one looked almost exactly like Emma.
“After Janet died,” Dolores continued, “I arranged for Emma to interview here because I wanted to help without forcing myself into her life.”
“Does she know now?”
“No.”
“You need to tell her.”
“I will. But first, you need to understand something about Claire.”
Dolores placed another file on the desk.
The independent cameras had captured Claire returning to the estate two nights earlier.
She met Peter Lang near the cliffside terrace where the charity celebration would be held.
“We can still make this work,” Claire said in the recording.
“Nathan has frozen the family bridge loan,” Peter replied.
“Then we need the trust documents.”
“They’re in his private server.”
“Emma knows his routines. Dolores does too.”
“You already failed to frame the girl.”
Claire stepped closer to Peter.
“I won’t fail again.”
The recording ended when they moved beyond the camera’s range.
Nathan stood abruptly.
“Why didn’t you show me this yesterday?”
“Because the system only flagged the movement this morning.”
“I’m canceling the event.”
Dolores looked toward the mountain windows.
“You should. But Claire may already understand that the financial records will expose her.”
Nathan called his security director and ordered Claire’s access revoked. He also instructed his legal team to notify federal investigators about the missing foundation money.
Then he drove to Emma’s apartment.
This time, she opened the door and allowed him inside.
The room was modest but orderly. Nursing textbooks remained stacked beside the bed, their pages filled with notes.
Nathan explained everything Dolores had revealed.
Emma sat silently.
“My mother had a sister?”
“Yes.”
“And Dolores knew who I was from the day I arrived?”
“She wanted to help you.”
“She should have told me.”
“I agree.”
Emma pressed both hands to her face.
For years, she had believed her mother had no surviving family. Now she was being asked to accept that Dolores had watched her work, struggle, and grieve while hiding the truth.
“I can’t decide how you should feel,” Nathan said. “But the money was not payment to manipulate me.”
Emma looked at him.
“Did you believe Claire?”
“For several minutes.”
“Of course you did.”
“I brought you the truth as soon as I had it.”
“No. Dolores brought you the truth. You brought it to me after Claire’s lie stopped being convenient.”
Nathan accepted the blow.
“The charity event is canceled,” he said. “The investigators are coming tomorrow.”
Emma glanced toward the window.
Outside, dark clouds were gathering over the mountains.
“What will Claire do?”
“She no longer has access to the estate.”
At that exact moment, Nathan’s phone vibrated.
An alert appeared from the mansion’s security system.
CLIFFSIDE SERVICE ENTRANCE OPENED.
Claire’s access code had been revoked.
But someone had entered using Emma’s temporary staff code.
Emma looked at the screen.
“I surrendered that card when I resigned.”
Nathan called security.
No one answered.
A second alert appeared.
MAIN SECURITY NETWORK OFFLINE.
Dolores called immediately.
Her voice was breathless.
“Claire is inside the estate.”
“Where are the guards?”
“Peter sent them a false evacuation order. Nathan, listen to me. Claire knows the independent cameras exist. She’s searching the control room.”
“Get out of the house.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
A crash sounded through the phone.
Then Claire’s voice came faintly from the background.
May you like
“Where is Emma?”
The call disconnected.
