Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN IN THE PINK ROBE
Claire expected Vanessa to defend Daniel.
Instead, Vanessa closed the study door.
Then she locked it.
Daniel stared at her.
“What are you doing?”
“Something I should've done months ago.”
Vanessa removed a phone from her robe pocket.
She placed it on the desk.
“Claire, I'm not sleeping with your husband.”
Claire almost laughed.
“You're wearing my robe.”
“I know how it looks.”
“It looks extremely specific.”
Vanessa glanced at Daniel.
“He wanted it to look that way.”
Claire's anger suddenly gave way to confusion.
Daniel stepped forward.
“Vanessa.”
“No.”
She backed away.
“You said she'd leave if she thought we were together.”
Claire stared at Daniel.
He had staged the affair.
Why?
Vanessa continued.
“Daniel hired me six months ago.”
“To do what?”
“Help him gain control of your voting shares.”
Claire's blood went cold.
Vanessa explained that she was a corporate attorney working privately for Daniel.
At first, Daniel claimed Claire was emotionally unstable after repeated family tragedies.
He wanted documents prepared allowing him temporary control of the Bennett family trust.
Then the requests became darker.
Backdated signatures.
Medical affidavits.
False correspondence.
Vanessa eventually realized Daniel wasn't protecting Claire.
He was preparing to erase her authority.
“Why are you telling me now?”
Vanessa looked toward Rosa.
“Because your father contacted me before he died.”
Daniel's face changed.
Claire noticed immediately.
“What?”
Vanessa unlocked her phone.
There was an audio recording.
A man's weakened voice filled the study.
Claire recognized it instantly.
Her father.
“Ms. Cole, if Claire returns and Daniel tries to force her from the property, you must understand something. The house belongs to Claire. The company belongs to Claire. And Daniel has no idea who her biological father really is.”
The recording ended.
Silence filled the room.
Claire looked at Daniel.
“You tried to throw me out of my own house.”
Daniel's mask finally cracked.
“You don't understand what your father did.”
“Then explain it.”
“He lied to everyone.”
“About what?”
Daniel pointed toward the photograph.
“That baby.”
Claire looked down.
Daniel's next words came slowly.
“You were never supposed to inherit Mercer Holdings.”
Rosa shook her head.
“That's not true.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“You think you know everything because you cleaned this family's floors?”
Rosa looked him directly in the eyes.
“No.”
May you like
Then she said something that silenced the entire room.
“I know because I was there the night Claire was born.”
