Chapter 8 - The Son in Vermont
Andrew Bennett lived in a small town near the Vermont border.
He repaired antique furniture.
He owned no expensive car.
He had no public connection to Thomas.
His mother died when he was sixteen.
Thomas purchased the workshop and house through a private trust.
Clara traveled with Amelia and Marcus.
Andrew opened the workshop door before they knocked.
He looked like Thomas.
Same gray eyes.
Same habit of pressing his lips together before speaking.
“You’re Clara.”
She stopped.
“You know me.”
“I know who you are.”
“Did our father tell you?”
“He wrote letters.”
“Did you meet him?”
“Twice.”
Clara’s anger sharpened.
“When?”
“Once when I was twelve.”
“Once six months before he died.”
“What did he want?”
“To apologize.”
“For hiding you?”
“For creating me.”
Clara stared.
Andrew stepped aside.
“You should come in.”
The workshop smelled of cedar and varnish.
Thomas’s photograph rested on a shelf.
Not the polished family portrait Clara knew.
A candid image of him laughing beside Andrew’s mother.
Clara looked away.
“What was her name?”
“Rebecca Shaw.”
“Did she know he was married?”
“At first?”
“No.”
“Later?”
“Yes.”
Clara felt sympathy disappear.
Andrew noticed.
“You don’t have to forgive her.”
“She is dead.”
“That does not make her choices clean.”
The answer surprised Clara.
Andrew continued.
“My mother loved him.”
“She also knew he returned to your family every night.”
“Both are true.”
Clara looked toward a half-restored dining table.
“Did he plan to give you part of the Bennett Trust?”
“No.”
“Evelyn said—”
“Evelyn lies.”
“You know her?”
“She visited me after Thomas died.”
Clara became still.
“Why?”
“She offered money.”
“For what?”
“My signature on a paternity claim.”
The same strategy.
Evelyn planned to use Andrew as a Bennett heir before creating Chloe’s child.
“What did she want you to claim?”
“That Thomas intended me to control the trust.”
“Did he?”
Andrew removed a sealed letter.
“No.”
Clara opened it.
Thomas’s handwriting filled two pages.
Andrew,
I owe you truth, not a company.
The Bennett Trust belongs to Clara because she worked beside me and because I publicly built it with her future in mind.
Blood is not a claim to labor someone else performed.
I have provided for you privately.
It is less than Clara will receive.
That is not punishment.
It reflects different lives.
Do not let anyone turn my failure toward you into a weapon against her.
Clara read it twice.
Thomas had protected her inheritance.
He had also acknowledged Andrew.
Imperfectly.
Late.
But clearly.
“Why didn’t you contact me?”
Andrew looked toward the photograph.
“I thought you knew.”
“When I realized you didn’t, Thomas was dead.”
“I did not want to arrive at your door as another claim.”
“You could have arrived as my brother.”
“I did not know whether I was.”
Clara understood.
Blood created facts.
Family required choices.
Andrew brought out another box.
“Thomas left this with me.”
Inside were Valecrest records.
Julian’s early investment requests.
Daniel’s debt.
Evelyn’s trust correspondence.
A photograph showed Evelyn meeting Dr. Price two weeks before Thomas’s death.
Another showed Lydia entering the clinic.
A note in Thomas’s handwriting appeared beneath it.
LYDIA KNOWS ABOUT PRICE.
DO NOT TRUST THE TRUSTEE.
Clara closed her eyes.
Her aunt had not merely betrayed her after Thomas died.
She may have helped kill him.
“Where is Lydia now?” Amelia asked.
Marcus checked the federal alert.
Lydia had failed to appear for questioning.
Her home was empty.
Her accounts were drained.
Andrew looked toward Clara.
“She came here yesterday.”
“What?”
“She asked for the letter.”
“Did you give it to her?”
“No.”
“What did she say?”
“That Evelyn would blame her for Thomas.”
“She wanted protection.”
“Where did she go?”
“She mentioned Montreal.”
Daniel’s van had last been seen heading north.
Lydia.
Daniel.
Dr. Price.
The surviving conspirators were moving toward the same border.
Andrew showed them a hidden message Lydia left inside the workshop.
A bank address in Montreal.
A locker number.
Clara looked at him.
“Why leave that?”
“She wanted us to follow.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Or someone wanted us to believe she did.”
Andrew reached inside an old cabinet.
“I have something else.”
He removed a small surveillance camera.
Lydia did not know it was there.
The recording showed her meeting a man behind the workshop.
Daniel.
He was alive.
Armed.
Dr. Price sat inside the van.
Lydia handed Daniel a passport.
Daniel handed Lydia a vial.
The label read CHLOE HAYES—MATERNAL BLOOD.
They were moving the paternity evidence.
If they destroyed or altered the sample, they could rewrite the baby’s biological father.
Andrew looked at Clara.
“What are you going to do?”
“Follow them.”
“You should let agents handle it.”
“They are.”
“And you?”
Clara looked toward Thomas’s letter.
“I am going to decide whether my father’s secrets control the rest of my life.”
Andrew studied her.
“Can I come?”
“Why?”
“Lydia helped Evelyn hide me.”
“She told my mother Thomas wanted nothing to do with us.”
“She kept his letters for five years.”
“She also visited the clinic before he died.”
“You want revenge.”
Andrew shook his head.
“I want the true thing.”
The words stayed with Clara.
They crossed into Canada under federal coordination.
The Montreal bank locker contained no records.
Only a phone.
It rang when Clara opened the box.
Lydia’s voice entered the vault.
“Clara.”
“Where are you?”
“With Daniel.”
“Are you there willingly?”
A pause.
“Not anymore.”
“What did you do to Dad?”
Lydia began crying.
“I gave Price access to the preserved samples.”
“What about the medication?”
“I knew Evelyn wanted Thomas sedated.”
“Did you know it would kill him?”
“No.”
“Would you have helped if you knew?”
Silence.
Clara closed her eyes.
“That is not an answer.”
Lydia whispered, “I don’t know.”
“Where is Daniel taking Price?”
“The old Saint Laurent clinic.”
“Why?”
“To change Chloe’s fetal records.”
“Whose baby is she carrying?”
“I don’t know.”
“You handled the donor material.”
“Evelyn switched the vial after I left.”
“Then Price may be the only person who knows.”
Lydia’s breathing became sharp.
Footsteps sounded near her.
“Clara, listen.”
“Daniel plans to take Chloe from protection.”
“He has someone inside.”
“Who?”
The line went dead.
Clara called Amelia.
Chloe’s safe location had already been compromised.
A false federal transport arrived fifteen minutes earlier.
Chloe was gone.
One guard was injured.
The transport order carried Amelia’s electronic signature.
Someone inside the legal team had forged it.
Marcus checked every person with access.
The authorization originated from his own secure account.
Clara looked at him.
Marcus’s face became cold.
“I did not send it.”
Amelia stared.
“Then your system is compromised.”
Or Marcus was lying.
For the first time, Clara could not tell.
May you like
Her revenge had gathered allies.
Now one of them might be working for Daniel.
