Chapter 16 - WHY THOMAS NAMED CLAIREClaire stared at the copy of Thomas Mercer’s will.
“That’s impossible.”
Daniel watched her through the interview-room glass.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
“C.B. is you.”
“There were other people with those initials.”
“The document includes your birth date.”
Claire went pale.
Daniel sat across from her.
“My father left you twelve percent of Blackwood North.”
“I never met Thomas.”
“You knew Laura.”
“Years later.”
“Think.”
Claire rubbed her forehead.
Then stopped.
“When I was fourteen…”
Daniel waited.
“My father took me somewhere.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. A ranch office.”
“Blackwood?”
“Maybe.”
She remembered a man.
Tall.
Dark hair turning gray.
He asked whether Patrick treated her well.
Claire said yes because Patrick was standing nearby.
Later, when Patrick left the room, the man gave her a silver coin.
“He told me that if I ever needed help, I should find Evelyn.”
Daniel stared.
“That was Thomas.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Why would he help you?”
Claire’s eyes filled with uncertainty.
“I have no idea.”
Nicholas was brought in.
When shown the will, his reaction was different.
He lowered his head.
“You know,” Daniel said.
Nicholas sighed.
“Our mother.”
“Who?”
“Marianne Beaumont.”
Daniel knew little about Claire’s mother.
She supposedly died of cancer when Claire was sixteen.
“What about her?”
Nicholas looked at Claire.
“Dad lied to you.”
Claire’s face hardened.
“About what now?”
“Mom worked at Blackwood.”
“When?”
“Before you were born.”
“For Thomas?”
“For Evelyn.”
Daniel leaned forward.
Nicholas explained that Marianne had been Evelyn’s closest friend.
When Arthur Mercer threatened Evelyn, Marianne helped arrange her disappearance.
Patrick discovered part of the plan.
He became violent.
Thomas secretly paid Marianne to keep Claire and Nicholas safe.
“That’s why Thomas included Claire in the will,” Daniel said.
Nicholas nodded.
“Marianne asked him to.”
Claire stared at her brother.
“You knew this?”
“I found Mom’s letters last year.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“You wouldn’t speak to me.”
Claire looked away.
Daniel saw something he hadn’t expected.
Claire’s entire life had been shaped by lies before she was old enough to understand them.
Patrick told her the Mercers destroyed their family.
In reality her mother had helped save Evelyn.
Thomas had tried to protect Claire.
Laura later tried to help her escape Patrick’s influence.
And Claire responded by participating in Patrick’s schemes.
“You inherited part of Blackwood,” Daniel said.
“I don’t want it.”
“That’s not the point.”
“What is?”
“My father knew your father was dangerous. He tried to protect you.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“And look what I became.”
Daniel said nothing.
Claire looked through the glass where Ethan was not present but seemed somehow to occupy every silence between them.
“I hurt the grandson of the man who tried to save me.”
“Yes.”
Tears slipped down her face.
“Yes, you did.”
Daniel left.
Outside, Marcus had new information.
Federal investigators had confirmed the lithium report.
Blackwood North potentially contained one of the largest deposits in the region.
News had not yet become public.
“If it leaks,” Marcus said, “you’ll have reporters everywhere.”
“I don’t care.”
“You will when mining companies start calling.”
Daniel looked at the ranch through the window.
For generations, money had poisoned his family.
He wasn’t going to let another fortune repeat the cycle.
“What if I don’t mine it?”
Marcus shrugged.
“It’s your land.”
“Partly Claire’s.”
“According to the original will, yes.”
Daniel smiled without humor.
“That’ll be interesting.”
Meanwhile, Victor began negotiating with prosecutors.
He offered information about higher-level participants.
People still alive.
Judges.
Executives.
Former politicians.
One name surprised everyone.
Charles Whitmore’s son, Andrew.
Daniel knew Andrew well.
They attended school together.
Andrew now ran a major investment firm.
According to Victor, Andrew had secretly financed attempts to acquire Blackwood North.
When Charles decided to confess, Andrew ordered Victor to recover Laura’s evidence.
“That’s who Victor was negotiating with,” Daniel said.
Marcus nodded.
“Likely.”
“And the shooting at Sam?”
“Victor says Andrew hired someone else.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
The network had passed into another generation despite everything.
That evening, Daniel told Evelyn.
She sat on the porch watching Ethan play near the stalls.
“He looks like Laura,” she said.
“I know.”
“And you.”
Daniel smiled.
“You left part of him out.”
“I missed everything.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn accepted the words.
She didn’t ask for instant forgiveness.
That helped.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Did Dad ever regret helping you disappear?”
“Every day.”
“Did you?”
“Every day.”
“Then why stay gone?”
“Because eventually fear becomes a habit.”
Daniel looked toward Ethan.
“I don’t want that for him.”
“Neither do I.”
Ethan ran toward them.
“Grandma?”
Evelyn’s eyes filled immediately every time he used the word.
“Yes?”
“Atlas likes you more than Dad.”
Daniel laughed.
“That’s betrayal.”
Evelyn walked toward the old horse.
Atlas pressed his forehead against her.
For a moment the decades disappeared.
Then Evelyn noticed something beneath the horse’s mane.
A thin leather cord.
“What’s that?”
Daniel moved closer.
Attached to the cord was a tiny brass tag.
Nobody remembered putting it there.
Evelyn turned it over.
A number was stamped into the metal.
Daniel frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Evelyn’s face changed.
“I know.”
“What?”
“That was Thomas’s private safe code.”
Daniel stared.
“Which safe?”
May you like
Evelyn looked toward the original ranch house.
“The one nobody found after he died.”
