Chapter 14 - MY MOTHER'S NAME
For several seconds, my father couldn't speak.
My mother's name sat on the screen like a ghost.
Caroline Anne Mercer.
Authorized signatory.
Date executed: three weeks ago.
“That is impossible,” Dad said.
Daniel nodded.
“Which means someone is using her archived identity.”
“Richard?”
“Probably.”
I stared at the signature.
Then something caught my eye.
“Zoom in.”
Daniel did.
I knew my mother's handwriting.
I had birthday cards tucked inside a drawer at home.
Letters she wrote me in college.
Notes she slipped into my suitcase.
“That isn't hers.”
Dad looked closer.
“No.”
“But it's good.”
“Very.”
Then I remembered.
The upward curve.
The forged signatures on my trust accounts ended the same way.
“Same person.”
Daniel compared them.
He nodded.
“Yes.”
One forger.
One person producing both my signature and my mother's.
Not Marcus.
Not Vanessa.
Someone with access to family documents.
Dad whispered, “Richard's assistant.”
“What?”
“Claire Benton.”
I knew Claire.
She had worked for my uncle for fourteen years.
Quiet.
Invisible.
Always carrying folders.
Always present.
Dad called security.
No answer from Claire.
Her company badge had been used forty minutes earlier.
At Mercer Global headquarters.
We drove.
The building was partially locked down when we arrived.
Police were already on the way.
I entered beside Dad and Daniel.
The lobby screens showed financial news.
MERCER GLOBAL EXECUTIVE SCANDAL DEEPENS.
My family name.
My marriage.
My humiliation.
All of it had become a ticker running beneath a television anchor's face.
I felt strangely calm.
Maybe there was a point where fear simply ran out.
Claire was on the thirty-second floor.
My mother's old office.
We found her standing beside the windows.
A laptop sat open behind her.
“Claire,” Dad said.
She turned.
No surprise.
“I wondered how long it would take.”
“Step away from the computer.”
She smiled.
“Why?”
Daniel looked at the screen.
“What did you do?”
“Finished what Richard started.”
“Why?”
Her eyes moved toward Dad.
“Because your family destroys people and calls it business.”
Dad frowned.
“My father worked for yours.”
I suddenly remembered.
Benton.
There had been a Benton at Mercer years ago.
An accountant dismissed for fraud.
“You're Harold Benton's daughter,” Dad said.
Claire's smile disappeared.
“You remember.”
“He stole from the company.”
“He took money because your father destroyed his pension.”
Dad shook his head.
“That isn't what happened.”
“That's what you tell yourself.”
This wasn't about Adrian.
Or Vanessa.
Or even Richard.
Richard had found someone who already hated us.
And gave her a weapon.
Claire touched the laptop.
“I uploaded everything.”
“Fake records,” Daniel said.
“Records people will believe.”
“Until forensic analysts examine them.”
“By then billions will be gone.”
She was right.
Markets could destroy a reputation in hours.
Rebuilding took years.
I stepped forward.
“What do you want?”
Claire looked at me.
“You're just like him.”
“No.”
“You inherited everything.”
“And you think that means nothing bad can happen to me?”
Her eyes moved briefly over the bruising near my neck.
Good.
Let her see it.
“My husband beat me last night.”
She said nothing.
“My uncle used my marriage to attack my father.”
Silence.
“A woman stole millions from me and tried to take my life apart.”
Claire swallowed.
I stepped closer.
“Money doesn't protect people from being betrayed.”
Her hand tightened near the laptop.
“But it gives you the power to recover.”
“Sometimes.”
I looked at the screen.
“What did Richard promise you?”
Her eyes flickered.
There.
“He promised you money.”
“No.”
“A position?”
Nothing.
“Protection?”
She finally looked away.
“He promised to clear my father's name.”
Dad spoke.
“Claire, your father confessed.”
She turned toward him.
“You're lying.”
“We still have the recording.”
Her face changed.
Dad continued.
“Your father begged mine not to prosecute him because you were twelve years old.”
Claire went pale.
“No.”
“My father agreed.”
“No.”
“Harold Benton wasn't fired because we destroyed him.”
Dad's voice softened.
“He was fired because he stole eight hundred thousand dollars. And my father kept him out of prison because he had a daughter.”
Claire stared.
Her entire reason for revenge cracked in front of us.
Then Daniel's laptop beeped.
“Thomas.”
“What?”
“The market opens again in nine minutes.”
“And?”
“If Claire's files remain online, we're going to lose billions.”
Claire looked at me.
May you like
I looked at the laptop.
Then every light in the building went out.
