The Story They Sold to the Public
Chapter 09 - The Story They Sold to the Public
By morning, Claire’s photograph was everywhere.
One television commentator called her an unstable wife seeking revenge against a wealthy family.
Another questioned whether she had crashed the car intentionally.
Strangers left messages accusing her of lying, stealing and manipulating Ethan.
The hospital placed her nursing position under review.
Claire sat inside Rosa’s apartment reading the comments until Rosa took the phone from her hand.
“Those people don’t know you.”
“They don’t have to know me. They only have to believe the better story.”
Rosa placed the phone inside a drawer.
“Then give them a truer one.”
Claire was frightened of speaking publicly. Any wrong sentence could be used against her. Any emotion could be called instability.
Marcus arrived with Vivian.
The room became tense immediately.
Ethan had not spoken to his mother since the board meeting.
“You voted to suspend me,” he said.
“Yes.”
“Get out.”
“I voted that way because Lauren had already secured enough support to remove you permanently.”
Ethan laughed bitterly. “So you saved me by humiliating me?”
“I prevented her from changing the company bylaws while you were still in the room.”
Vivian placed a folder on the table.
Inside were copies of old financial ledgers.
The first illegal Bennett transfer had occurred twenty-one years earlier, when Lauren was twelve and Ethan was fifteen.
Ethan stared at his mother.
“Lauren didn’t begin this.”
“No,” Vivian said. “Your father did.”
Richard Bennett had diverted redevelopment grants into private companies. When Vivian discovered it, she threatened to expose him.
Richard threatened to take the children and destroy her reputation.
Vivian signed documents accepting control of the trust. She told herself she would repair the damage quietly.
Instead, she became part of the lie.
“Lauren found these ledgers after Richard died,” Vivian said. “She knew I would protect the family before I protected myself.”
Claire’s anger rose.
“You offered me money because you thought I had found this.”
“I offered you a way out because the last accountant who questioned Lauren disappeared.”
Everyone became silent.
“Disappeared?” Ethan asked.
“He resigned and left the country. At least, that is what Lauren told us.”
Marcus shook his head.
“He never left.”
The accountant had been living under another name in a small town in Maine.
Marcus had finally found him.
But when Marcus called that morning, a woman answered.
May you like
The accountant had died two days earlier.
Before dying, he left one message for Claire Bennett.
