Chapter 7 - The Mastermind Unmasked
Claire leaned back against her pillows, breathing a long, quiet sigh of relief. The red mark on her cheek remained, but the terrifying weight that had pressed against her chest for two years was finally gone.
Thomas pulled a chair close to the bed and sat down, carefully taking the tiny newborn into his arms. The baby stopped crying, his bright blue eyes looking up curiously at his grandfather.
"You were brave today, Claire," Thomas said gently, smiling down at the boy. "You handled that with more grace than he deserved."
"I had to be brave for him, Dad," Claire replied, looking at her son. "I couldn't let Brandon raise him in a home built on lies and fear."
She reached for her phone on the bedside table and unlocked a hidden folder protected by biometric encryption.
"There's something else, Dad," Claire said, turning the screen toward Thomas. "Brandon didn't act alone. His mother was the one who set up the offshore shell accounts. She’s been receiving monthly transfers of fifteen thousand dollars directly from my trust account."
Thomas looked at the bank transfer records on the screen, his eyes darkening with focused resolve. "Evelyn Bennett?"
"Yes," Claire confirmed. "She knew Brandon was stealing from me. She encouraged him to do it. She told him that because I was pregnant, I would be too tired to notice the missing funds. She even picked out the house in Florida they were planning to buy with my money."
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Thomas took a deep breath, setting his black encrypted phone back on his lap. "Then we won't stop with Brandon. The legal team will file civil and criminal charges against his entire family by five o'clock today."
👉 Read Part 8 to see what happened when Brandon's mother tried to intervene.
