Chapter 16 - Claire’s Family Secret
Claire’s mother had never spoken about her older brother.
Claire called her mother from the hospital.
For a long time, Evelyn Soren said nothing.
Then she began to cry.
“I thought he was gone.”
“What does that mean?” Claire demanded.
Evelyn admitted Graham had been violent and obsessed with money as a young man. After he joined my father’s company, she cut contact. Years later, my father quietly told her Graham had caused the warehouse fire and was being forced out.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Claire asked.
“Because I was ashamed.”
Claire laughed once, brokenly.
“Your shame almost got me killed.”
Evelyn had one more secret.
After Claire married me, Graham contacted her.
He said the Mercer family had stolen everything from him and that Claire could help restore what was “rightfully” his.
Evelyn refused.
Graham threatened her.
She never told us.
Then Emma, listening from the doorway, asked a simple question.
“If he’s Mommy’s uncle, why did he want to hurt Mommy?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Claire finally said, “Because being family doesn’t make someone good.”
That night, federal agents found a cabin registered to one of Voss’s aliases.
Inside were food, cash, medical supplies, and maps.
One map had our hospital circled.
Another had our house circled.
The third had a location thirty miles north.
A cemetery.
My father’s grave.
Ortiz stared at the map.
“He’s not running.”
May you like
I understood before she said it.
“He’s finishing something.”
