Chapter 4 - Savannah’s Second Phone
Savannah arrived wearing sunglasses and no engagement ring.
Claire met her in Benjamin’s office.
Not alone.
Benjamin remained present.
So did Claire’s private investigator, Maya Chen.
Savannah sat across from them.
“You look different.”
Claire almost laughed.
“No.”
“You just never looked closely.”
Savannah removed her glasses.
Her eyes were red.
“Adrian knows.”
“That you’re not pregnant?”
Savannah flinched.
Claire continued.
“I’ve known for two months.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you tell him?”
Claire looked at her.
“Because I stopped rescuing him from his own choices.”
Savannah absorbed that.
Then she placed a phone on the table.
The same second phone she had used after Adrian left.
Claire recognized it.
Savannah said.
“I was working with Ethan.”
“I know.”
“He told me the board needed leverage against Adrian.”
Claire frowned.
“Against Adrian?”
Savannah nodded.
“He said Adrian was draining the company.”
“He said you were the only person who could stop it.”
Claire looked at Maya.
That did not match everything they knew.
Savannah continued.
“The pregnancy was Ethan’s idea.”
Claire stared.
“Explain.”
Adrian wanted another son.
He had told Savannah repeatedly that Noah would inherit too much through Claire.
He complained that Claire controlled Noah emotionally.
Savannah learned quickly what Adrian wanted to hear.
So she told him she was pregnant.
Adrian became careless.
He began discussing company matters.
Passwords.
Shareholder fights.
Family disputes.
Ethan asked Savannah to record him.
She did.
“Why?”
Claire asked.
“Money.”
Savannah did not pretend otherwise.
“Ethan paid me.”
“How much?”
“Three hundred thousand.”
Claire looked at the phone.
“What’s on it?”
“Everything.”
Adrian complaining about Richard.
Adrian describing undisclosed company loans.
Adrian admitting he signed blank authorization packages because Ethan handled details.
Adrian saying Claire would never leave because she had no money.
Savannah looked ashamed.
“He really believed that.”
Claire smiled faintly.
“Yes.”
Savannah continued.
“Then Ethan changed.”
“He stopped asking about Adrian.”
“He started asking about you.”
“What about me?”
“Your trust.”
Claire’s expression hardened.
“How did he know?”
“Someone told him your thirty-second birthday mattered.”
Maya leaned forward.
“Who?”
Savannah shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Then she opened a message thread.
Ethan.
Find out whether Claire knows the Whitmore transfer amount.
Savannah replied.
Why?
Ethan answered.
Because if she gets control first, we lose everything.
Claire felt cold.
“We?”
Savannah nodded.
“That scared me.”
“So I started saving copies.”
“Then yesterday, Ethan told me to leave California.”
“Why?”
“He said Adrian would realize the baby wasn’t real.”
“Obviously.”
“No.”
Savannah looked directly at Claire.
“He said that wasn’t the dangerous part.”
“What was?”
“He said Adrian was about to discover the company had already been sold around him.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“Vale Industries?”
Savannah nodded.
Claire looked at Benjamin.
“That isn’t possible.”
Benjamin did not answer immediately.
Then.
“Not sold.”
“What?”
“Restructured.”
“By whom?”
Before he could answer, Maya’s laptop chimed.
A corporate filing had just posted.
New entity.
Vale Meridian Holdings.
May you like
Controlling member.
Ethan Cole.
