Chapter 14 - The Heir Nobody Knew.
Nathan stopped beside the abandoned funeral home.
Federal vehicles arrived seconds later.
Claire climbed out before anyone could stop her.
The building smelled of dust and old flowers.
She entered through the broken rear door.
“Mom?”
Silence.
Sloane followed.
Nathan and Rebecca came behind them.
Agents spread through the rooms.
Claire passed a chapel.
Rows of empty chairs faced a wooden casket.
Her childhood rushed back.
She had sat in the front row here at twelve years old.
Her mother had held her hand.
Everyone had told Claire her father was inside that box.
She touched the edge of a chair.
Anne’s voice came from downstairs.
“Claire!”
Claire ran toward it.
The basement contained filing cabinets.
Hundreds.
Victor stood beside Anne at the far wall.
He held a gun.
Agents surrounded him from above the stairwell.
“Stay back.”
Claire stopped.
Victor’s hand rested against Anne’s shoulder.
“You sent the files.”
“Yes.”
“That was unfortunate.”
“Let her go.”
Victor smiled.
“She knows too much.”
“So do I.”
“Yes.”
Claire stepped forward.
“Take me instead.”
Anne shook her head violently.
“No.”
Victor studied Claire.
“You have Harrison’s instincts.”
“I hope not.”
“You have his blood.”
Sloane moved beside Claire.
“So do I.”
Victor looked at both women.
Then laughed softly.
“The Ashford heirs.”
Claire hated the word.
Victor glanced at the filing cabinets.
“Do you know what your father tried to do?”
Claire said nothing.
“He tried to shut us out.”
“Harrison laundering money for you sounds cooperative.”
“He inherited that relationship.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“Then he tried to end it.”
Sloane stared.
“You said he was part of it.”
“He was.”
Victor smiled.
“People can be guilty and trapped at the same time.”
Claire looked toward Anne.
Her mother subtly moved one hand.
She was pointing toward a filing drawer.
Claire followed the gesture with her eyes.
Label 1998.
The year her father supposedly died.
Claire understood.
She looked back at Victor.
“What’s in that cabinet?”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
Anne suddenly shoved him.
The gun fired.
Sloane screamed.
Nathan lunged.
Agents rushed forward.
Victor crashed against the wall.
The gun slid across the floor.
Anne fell.
Claire dropped beside her.
“Mom.”
Anne looked down.
No blood.
The shot had missed.
Claire held her.
Nathan handcuffed Victor beside the agents.
Sloane opened cabinet 1998.
Inside were death certificates.
Insurance files.
Photographs.
Then she stopped.
“Claire.”
Claire approached.
Sloane held one file.
DANIEL BENNETT.
Claire opened it.
Her father’s photograph was attached.
Below it was another name.
MICHAEL REYES.
Status.
Relocated.
Claire stared.
“He survived.”
Anne began crying.
“I told you.”
Claire looked deeper into the file.
There was an address.
Updated only six months earlier.
Colorado.
Claire’s father had not died.
He had been living under another name for twenty-eight years.
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At the bottom of the page was a payment authorization.
Signed by Harrison Ashford.
