CHAPTER 5 – The Truth Claire Buried
Grant could barely sleep.
At sunrise he sat alone in Claire's kitchen, staring at the photograph.
It wasn't simply surveillance.
The angle...
The distance...
Whoever had taken it knew exactly where Claire would be.
Claire walked in carrying two cups of coffee.
"You deserve the truth."
Grant looked up.
"What truth?"
She sat opposite him.
"Three years ago, after the boys were born... someone came to the hospital."
Grant frowned.
"I never knew."
"Because they made sure you wouldn't."
Claire's hands trembled.
"A man offered me fifty million dollars."
Grant's eyes widened.
"What?"
"He wanted me to disappear."
Grant slowly stood.
"Who?"
"He never gave his name."
"What did he want?"
Claire swallowed.
"He said the Whitmore boys could never inherit your company."
Grant felt the room spinning.
"My company belongs to my children."
"It does now."
Claire lowered her eyes.
"But three years ago..."
She pushed another envelope toward him.
Hospital security reports.
Visitor logs.
Surveillance stills.
One image froze Grant's heart.
An elderly man in a gray suit leaving Claire's hospital room.
Grant knew that face.
He had trusted him for twenty-five years.
Richard Sloan.
Chairman of Whitmore Aviation Capital.
His late father's closest friend.
Grant whispered,
"No..."
Claire nodded.
"He knew about the boys before anyone else."
Grant realized something horrifying.
Richard had spent years encouraging him to stay away from his own family.
Every business trip.
Every overseas acquisition.
Every excuse.
Someone hadn't merely benefited from Grant's absence.
Someone had planned it.
May you like
And now...
Grant finally understood why.
