Chapter 7: My Father’s Secret
My father had created Lily’s trust with his younger brother, Thomas Bennett.
Thomas and my father had built Bennett Global together before a brutal disagreement separated them.
Thomas believed my father had stolen control of the company.
My father believed Thomas had nearly destroyed it through reckless deals.
They had not spoken in twelve years.
Under the trust agreement, if Lily died before turning seven and if I became unable to inherit, the assets would not remain under Adrian’s control permanently.
They would transfer to the Bennett Family Foundation.
Thomas Bennett was one of its three trustees.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I demanded.
“I never imagined the clause would matter.”
“You hid four hundred million dollars behind my daughter’s name.”
“I was protecting her future.”
“You turned her into a target.”
My father looked as if I had struck him.
Perhaps I had.
Perhaps he deserved it.
Claire investigated Thomas.
Six months earlier, one of his companies had received money from the same offshore network used by Cross Capital.
Adrian and Thomas had been connected.
We just did not know how closely.
Detective Ortiz rejected the idea of taking the trust documents to the pier.
My father intended to go anyway.
“You will not trade legal papers for a witness,” Ortiz said.
“I will trade paper for a human life.”
“You may be walking into a trap.”
“I know.”
I stood.
“Then I’m coming.”
“No,” my father said.
“Julia risked her life to give me Lily’s recording.”
“I will not risk losing you too.”
“You already tried to protect me by keeping secrets. Look where that brought us.”
He had no answer.
The next night, we went to Pier Twenty-Seven with copies of the trust documents.
Ortiz’s officers watched from unmarked vehicles.
The wind coming off the river cut through my coat.
At exactly eleven, a black van approached.
A man stepped out.
It was not Adrian.
It was Thomas Bennett.
My uncle looked older than I remembered. His hair had turned white, but his eyes still carried the resentment that had divided our family.
“Nathaniel,” he said.
“Where is Julia?”
“Safe for now.”
“Did you work with Adrian?”
Thomas laughed bitterly.
“Your son-in-law came to me. He offered evidence that you had concealed assets in Lily’s trust.”
“Did you pay him?”
“I invested in Cross Capital.”
“You financed him.”
“I believed I was financing the destruction of your reputation. I did not know he intended to kill a child.”
My father stepped closer.
“Where is he?”
Thomas looked at me.
“Adrian kept records. He recorded everyone because he trusted no one. Vanessa has those recordings.”
“Where is Vanessa?”
“She contacted me after Lily died. She wanted protection.”
“From Adrian?”
“From someone else.”
A sound came from inside the van.
A woman cried out.
Ortiz’s officers moved.
The rear doors opened.
Julia Reed stumbled into view, her wrists bound.
Before anyone reached her, a shot shattered the van’s windshield.
Thomas fell.
My father pulled me behind a concrete barrier.
Police flooded the pier.
The shooter escaped across the rooftop of a nearby warehouse.
Julia survived.
Thomas survived.
As paramedics lifted him onto a stretcher, he grabbed my father’s sleeve.
“Adrian didn’t design this alone.”
“Who did?”
Thomas struggled to speak.
May you like
Then he whispered a name none of us expected.
“Claire.”
