Margaret’s calm expression vanished as soon as she noticed Claire’s bruised wrist.
“Did he do that?”
Claire nodded.
Margaret pulled out her phone.
By midnight, Bennett Industrial’s attorneys had placed every pending contract involving Mercer Development, Daniel’s construction company, under review.
By morning, three banks had requested emergency assessments of loans that depended on those contracts.
Daniel woke beside Vanessa to seventeen missed calls.
At 8:12 a.m., Nathan Bennett entered Daniel’s office accompanied by two attorneys.
Daniel stared at him.
“Why are you here?”
Nathan placed a folder on the desk.
“My sister is filing for divorce.”
Daniel frowned.
“Your sister?”
Nathan opened the folder and pushed forward a photograph showing Claire beside Arthur Bennett at a private event for the Bennett Family Foundation.
Daniel lost all color.
Nathan leaned back.
“You threw the heir to the Bennett fortune out of her own house.”
For several seconds, Daniel said nothing.
He stared at the photograph as if it belonged to someone else’s life.
Claire looked younger, perhaps twenty-five, standing beside Arthur Bennett beneath the gold lettering of the Bennett Family Foundation.
Around them were state officials, university presidents, and corporate executives Daniel had spent years trying to meet.
“That could mean anything,” Daniel finally said.
Nathan’s expression remained unchanged.
“It means Claire is Arthur Bennett’s granddaughter. It means she inherited controlling interests in several family trusts three weeks ago. And it means the woman you called useless yesterday could buy your company without noticing the expense.”
Daniel pushed the photograph away.
“She never told me.”
“No,” Nathan replied. “She wanted a marriage, not an acquisition.”
One of the attorneys placed another document in front of him.
It was a formal notice requiring preservation of financial records, company communications, and anything relating to marital assets.
Daniel skimmed the pages until he found references to the house, his company shares, and transfers made during the previous eighteen months.
His stomach tightened.
The house belonged legally to both of them.
Mercer Development, however, was in far worse condition than Claire knew.
Daniel had hidden that from her.
Material costs had destroyed his margins.
Two projects were months behind schedule.
