Sophie’s Signature
Chapter 08 - Sophie’s Signature
Sophie was still a child when Grant opened the account.
Seventeen.
The paperwork listed her as trustee.
Claire sat beside her daughter at the attorney’s office while Sophie stared at a signature she did not remember making.
“That looks like mine.”
“Did you sign it?” the attorney asked.
“I don’t know.”
Sophie began breathing faster.
Claire took her hand.
“Think.”
Then Sophie remembered.
A stack of papers.
Three years earlier.
Grant had told her they were documents for a college savings plan.
He had pointed to the signature lines.
She had signed without reading them.
“I trusted him.”
The words broke something in Claire.
Because she had said the same thing.
The account had been used to receive funds from two Bennett properties before the money moved elsewhere.
Legally, Sophie’s name was attached to transactions worth more than a million dollars.
Grant had put his own daughter between himself and investigators.
Claire left the attorney’s office shaking.
She called him.
Grant answered on the first ring.
“I was wondering how long it would take.”
“You used Sophie.”
“I protected her future.”
“You used her name.”
“She’s my daughter.”
“She is not your shield.”
Grant sighed.
“You’re being emotional again.”
For twenty-two years, those words had worked.
Claire would pause.
Question herself.
Lower her voice.
Not this time.
“You listen carefully. Whatever happens between you and me, Sophie comes out of this clean.”
“You don’t make demands anymore.”
“I just did.”
Grant laughed.
“Claire, you still don’t understand the situation.”
“Explain it.”
“The company collapses without me.”
“Maybe.”
“Your precious Harbor House closes.”
“Maybe.”
“Six hundred people lose their jobs.”
Claire gripped the phone.
Grant’s voice softened.
“Give me back control. Tell the board you overreacted. We repair the marriage publicly. Everything goes away.”
Claire realized he believed she might do it.
Not because she loved him.
Because she cared about everyone else.
Grant had always counted on her conscience to compensate for his lack of one.
She looked through the attorney’s window at Sophie, sitting alone in the conference room.
“No.”
Silence.
Then Grant said, “You’re going to regret that.”
He hung up.
Ten minutes later, Claire received an emergency call from Marcus Hill.
Someone had just canceled the company’s main line of credit.
Payroll was due Friday.
Without that money, six hundred employees would not be paid.
Claire stared at the phone.
May you like
Grant had made his next move.
And this time, innocent people would feel it.
