Chapter 5 - The Marriage Before the Marriage
Claire left Rebecca’s house but did not drive home.
She parked beside a reservoir and sat staring at the water.
Thomas was not her biological father.
The sentence felt impossible.
Thomas had taught her to ride a bicycle.
Thomas had slept on the floor beside her bed when she had pneumonia at nine.
Thomas had walked her down the aisle.
Blood could not erase any of that.
But Julian had known.
That was the wound she could not understand.
Her phone rang.
Natalie.
Claire almost declined it.
Then she answered.
“Happy birthday again,” Natalie said brightly.
“Yesterday.”
“I know.”
Natalie laughed.
“I still feel guilty we couldn’t celebrate properly.”
Claire watched a bird skim across the reservoir.
“Where were you at seven eighteen last night?”
Silence.
Only half a second.
But Claire heard it.
“At home.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Natalie lied easily.
Too easily.
“Why?”
“No reason.”
Natalie changed the subject.
“Mom wants everyone at dinner Sunday.”
“Julian too?”
“Obviously.”
Claire looked at the DNA report beside her.
“Natalie, did Dad ever ask you about Owen’s father?”
The silence was longer this time.
“What?”
“Before Dad died.”
“No.”
Another lie.
Claire ended the call.
Rebecca had given her copies of several notes.
Thomas had discovered Julian researching Claire’s biological lineage months before proposing.
He had discovered payments from Julian’s father to a private investigator.
He had also discovered that Evelyn had concealed Claire’s biological father’s identity for decades.
But one question remained unanswered.
Why would Julian care who Claire’s biological father was?
The answer arrived at 2:37 that afternoon.
Rebecca called.
“I found something else.”
“What?”
“A photocopy Thomas hid in an old case file.”
Claire heard papers moving.
“It’s a trust instrument.”
“Whose trust?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“Alexander Voss.”
Claire knew the name.
Everyone in finance did.
Alexander Voss had built one of the largest privately held logistics companies in the country.
He had died childless eighteen years ago.
Or that was what the newspapers had reported.
Rebecca continued.
“His estate contains a dormant bloodline provision.”
Claire’s pulse quickened.
“What does that mean?”
“It means if a biological child existed, ownership of Voss Holdings never legally passed where everyone thought it did.”
Claire stared at the road.
“And you think I’m that child?”
“No.”
Rebecca’s voice dropped.
May you like
“Thomas did.”
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