Chapter 5 - The Morning Headlines and the Boardroom Coup
By 8:00 a.m. the following morning, Richmond was a city consumed by one story.
I sat in the corner office of Aegis Cyber-Infrastructure on the twentieth floor of the Dominion Tower downtown. The floor-to-ceiling windows offered a sweeping view of the James River, glistening under the crisp autumn sun.
Lily was sitting at a glass conference table behind me, happily eating pancakes provided by my executive assistant while coloring in a new sketchbook.
On my desk sat four fresh copies of the morning newspapers.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch banner headline read:
THE DAUGHTER THEY ERASED: HOW DR. CLAIRE BENNETT SURVIVED A FAKE OBITUARY TO SAVE VIRGINIA’S GRID.
Below the headline was a high-resolution photograph of me leaving Archer & Vale the night before, wearing my black satin gown, flanked by Governor Pierce and state troopers, holding Lily’s hand. In stark contrast, next to it was a mugshot of my mother, Diane Bennett, looking disheveled, bitter, and stripped of her makeup after being processed at the city jail at 2:00 a.m.
My office door opened softly, and Ethan Marlowe walked in.
He didn't wear his usual sharp political staffer suit. He wore a simple coat, carrying a leather briefcase. He looked exhausted, but his eyes were filled with an intense, quiet remorse.
“Claire,” he said softly, stopping near the entrance.
“Ethan,” I replied, leaning back in my leather chair. “I didn't expect to see you here.”
“I brought the preliminary discovery documents from my father’s committee,” Ethan said, setting his briefcase on the desk. He stood there for a moment, looking at me with a mix of awe and painful regret. “Claire... I am so sorry. Seven years ago, when you vanished from campus, Vanessa told me you had transferred to a school in Europe. Then two years later, she told me you had died. I... I should have checked. I should have looked deeper.”
“Why would you?” I asked calmly. “Vanessa was very convincing. My parents were very convincing. They had official documents, death notices, and a family that backed up every lie.”
“I broke off my engagement with Vanessa last night,” Ethan said, his voice dropping into a harsh register. “She tried to come to my apartment at three in the morning, screaming that you had used black magic to manipulate the Governor. My father’s team has severed all political ties with Bennett Financial. Your father’s firm is done, Claire.”
“Not yet,” I said, standing up and pulling my blazer over my shoulders. “They have an emergency board meeting scheduled for ten o’clock this morning at Bennett Financial headquarters.”
May you like
Ethan blinked. “Are you going?”
“I’m not just going, Ethan,” I said, picking up a leather folder containing my grandmother’s legal trust deed. “I own fifty-one percent of the real estate assets tied to their corporate headquarters. I’m going to fire my father.”
