Chapter 7 - WHY CLAIRE MATTERED
Claire called me that evening.
I almost ignored it.
Then I remembered her face when Sophie announced who she was.
Claire had been lied to too.
We met in a private conference room at the Whitmore offices.
She arrived alone.
No makeup.
No silver gown.
No performance.
“I owe you an apology.”
“Yes.”
She flinched.
“I didn’t know you were still married.”
“I believe that.”
“I thought you were separated.”
“I believe that too.”
She looked surprised.
“Why?”
“Because Brandon told different lies to different women.”
She sat down.
“I loved him.”
I said nothing.
“I know how stupid that sounds.”
“It doesn’t.”
That was the dangerous part.
People assume betrayal only happens to fools.
It happens to people who trust.
Claire looked at the DNA report Dominic had provided.
Her hands shook.
“Evan’s father died seven years ago.”
I looked at her.
“Who?”
“Michael Trent.”
“He was my fiancé.”
“He died before Evan was born.”
“Brandon knew?”
“No.”
“Not until last year.”
She looked at me.
“He pushed for a paternity test.”
“Why would you agree?”
“He told me he wanted to formally adopt Evan after we married.”
I stared at her.
“He knew exactly what he was doing.”
Claire nodded slowly.
“My father’s family trust requires a male descendant to retain voting control of Harrington Aerospace.”
“Evan.”
“Yes.”
“If I marry Brandon and he adopts Evan, Brandon gains proxy influence over the trust until Evan turns twenty-one.”
There it was.
This was never about love.
Brandon wanted access to Harrington voting power.
He wanted my Whitmore-backed assets.
He wanted Sophie’s rights removed.
He wanted everything.
Claire whispered.
“He told me he loved Evan.”
I thought of Sophie’s paper necklace.
“He probably convinced himself he did.”
Claire looked at me.
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“No.”
It made it worse.
People like Brandon did not think of themselves as villains.
They thought every betrayal was justified by the future they were trying to build.
Claire pushed another document toward me.
“I found this in his apartment.”
A lease.
Different address.
Tessa Monroe listed as co-tenant.
“So she was living with him.”
“Apparently.”
Claire looked sick.
“He told me Tessa was obsessed with him.”
I almost laughed.
“He told Tessa what about you?”
“I’m afraid to ask.”
We did anyway.
Dominic arranged for Tessa’s attorney to provide limited cooperation.
Tessa’s version was brutal.
Brandon told her Claire was merely a strategic marriage.
He told her once the Harrington merger closed, he would divorce Claire.
He promised Tessa the chief operating officer position.
Then eventually marriage.
“What about me?”
Tessa had an answer for that too.
Brandon told her I was emotionally unstable.
That I refused divorce.
That Sophie was the only reason he had not “removed me from his life.”
The symmetry was almost elegant.
Three women.
Three versions.
One man at the center.
Then Claire said something unexpected.
“There’s one person we haven’t discussed.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
Victor Harrington had publicly condemned Brandon.
But according to Claire, Victor had pushed the relationship from the beginning.
“He wanted the merger more than I did.”
“Did he know Brandon was married?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire looked at me.
“But my father knew something about you.”
I went still.
May you like
“What?”
“The first time Brandon mentioned your name, Dad said, ‘If Alyssa ever remembers who she is, this deal is dead.’”
