Chapter 8 - MAYA’S SECRET
Maya locked herself in Claire’s guest bathroom and cried.
Claire gave her time.
When she finally came out, her face was swollen.
“I married him when I was twenty-three.”
Claire said nothing.
“I thought Nathan was different.”
“So did I.”
Maya sat beside the window.
“He used to tell me Adrian was the dangerous brother.”
Claire almost smiled bitterly.
“Maybe they took turns.”
Maya wiped her eyes.
Then she told Claire something she had never told anyone.
Nathan had hit her once.
Not repeatedly.
Not publicly.
Once.
Two years earlier.
After she confronted him about missing money.
“He apologized for three weeks.”
Maya stared at her hands.
“He bought me a necklace.”
“He cried.”
“He said his father had pressured him.”
“I wanted to believe him.”
Claire sat beside her.
“What missing money?”
“Forty thousand dollars from our children’s education account.”
“Where did it go?”
“I never found out.”
Now they did.
The Monterey records showed a transfer from Nathan’s family account directly into one of Charles’s companies.
Maya stared at the screen.
“He stole from his own children.”
Claire looked toward her.
“And then convinced you silence would protect the family.”
Maya nodded.
That evening, Nathan requested to speak with investigators.
He wanted a deal.
In exchange for reduced charges, he offered records proving his father had ordered the fraud.
Detectives refused to promise anything.
Nathan talked anyway.
He admitted helping create the fake Monterey account.
He admitted selling the life insurance policy.
But he denied knowing about the brake line.
“That was Dad.”
He insisted Eleanor had pushed Charles toward increasingly desperate plans.
“She was terrified of losing the estate.”
Nathan claimed Eleanor had spent decades building the image of a wealthy, untouchable family.
She would rather commit crimes than let the public discover they were collapsing financially.
Claire asked Reed whether Nathan mentioned Adrian.
“He did.”
“What did he say?”
“That Adrian knew about the fake account.”
Claire expected that.
Then Reed continued.
“But according to Nathan, Adrian did not know about the brake sabotage until after it happened.”
Claire felt no relief.
“What did he do when he found out?”
“He helped hide it.”
That answer was worse.
Adrian may not have cut the brake line.
But he knew his parents had endangered Claire.
And he stayed silent.
He slept beside her.
Ate breakfast with her.
Kissed her goodbye.
All while knowing someone in his family might have tried to kill her.
Claire whispered.
“He chose them.”
Reed closed the file.
“Yes.”
That evening, Claire filed for divorce.
Rebecca submitted emergency motions freezing all marital assets that might be connected to the Mercer companies.
She also sought protection against fraudulent transfers involving Claire’s name.
By midnight, several family accounts were temporarily frozen.
At 12:42 a.m., Eleanor called Claire seventeen times.
Claire ignored every call.
At 1:10, a message arrived.
YOU THINK YOU WON.
At 1:12, another appeared.
YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT ADRIAN SIGNED.
Claire showed Rebecca.
Rebecca immediately contacted investigators.
They searched the confiscated files again.
Near dawn, they found a sealed envelope containing an agreement signed by Adrian.
The document was dated six months earlier.
It promised Charles control of certain marital assets if Adrian and Claire divorced.
Claire stared at the final paragraph.
Then her stomach tightened.
Because one asset was listed separately.
Claire’s family trust.
And beside it were three terrifying words.
May you like
UPON SPOUSE’S DEATH.
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