“Yes.”
At least he admitted it.
Luke sat in his truck outside the office building he had worked in for fourteen years.
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why did you call?”
“To warn you.”
“About?”
“Mom wants Claire gone.”
Luke stopped breathing.
“What?”
Andrew lowered his voice.
“I heard her talking to Harrison.”
Harrison Blake was the family attorney.
“What did she say?”
“That Claire is the source of instability and if you separate, she’ll restore everything.”
Luke laughed because the alternative was shouting.
“She thinks she can buy my marriage.”
“I think she thinks she can buy anything.”
Luke hung up.
That evening he told Claire.
She listened without interrupting.
When he finished, she asked, “What do you want to do?”
“Leave.”
“The company?”
“Yes.”
Claire studied him.
“You love that company.”
“I loved what I thought it was.”
“Your dad built most of it.”
“I know.”
“That still matters.”
Luke leaned forward.
“My father is dead.”
Claire waited.
“My wife isn’t.”
He looked toward Ellie’s bedroom.
“My daughter isn’t.”
“Luke.”
“No. I’m done paying for belonging.”
The next morning, Luke Bennett resigned.
Diane did not respond.
For two weeks, nothing happened.
Then a certified letter arrived concerning their home.
The family trust held a secondary lien.
The loan agreement contained a clause requiring repayment within ninety days if Luke ceased employment with Bennett Construction under certain conditions.
Claire read it twice.
“She’s calling the loan.”
Luke nodded.
They owed $286,000.
They could not produce that in ninety days without selling investments at a devastating loss or refinancing quickly.
Claire stared around the kitchen.
The kitchen where Ellie had celebrated the second half of her fifth birthday.
The house where Claire had brought her home from the hospital.
The pencil marks on the pantry door showing her height every six months.
“She’s trying to take our house.”
Luke’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
Claire looked at him.
“Call a lawyer.”
He did.
Not Harrison Blake.
A different lawyer.
Miriam Sloan.
Sixty-one years old.
Former corporate litigator.
Recommended by Kate.
When Luke told her the story, Miriam listened for forty minutes without interrupting.
Then she asked one question.