Chapter 4 - The Man Claire Never Buried
Ethan had one dead man in his life who mattered.
His father.
Robert Carter.
Officially died seven years earlier after a heart attack in Arizona.
Ethan attended the funeral.
Saw the body.
No mystery.
So Corinne's statement made no sense.
Then she clarified.
“Not his father.”
“Who?”
“Claire’s brother.”
Ethan frowned.
Claire had told him she was an only child.
Apparently she wasn't.
Name:
Daniel Reeves.
That surname again.
Claire Carter had been born Claire Reeves.
She changed her surname legally at nineteen after becoming estranged from her family.
Ethan had known her maiden name as Claire Weston.
Fake.
Why?
Because the Reeves family owned Larkspur.
Claire had spent her adulthood hiding from them.
Her brother Daniel was supposed to have died in a boating accident twelve years earlier.
No body recovered.
Ethan almost laughed.
Dead was becoming flexible.
Daniel Reeves was alive.
He had disappeared after accusing Larkspur of illegally using donor embryos and mishandling consent records.
No criminal case had been proven.
The family called him unstable.
Claire believed him.
That was why she left.
Years later, Claire used frozen embryos created with Ethan.
Why choose Larkspur after everything?
She didn't.
She transferred the embryos at another clinic.
That clinic later outsourced storage to Larkspur after a merger.
Claire's embryos ended up back in the system she feared.
Then one disappeared.
Ethan's biological embryo.
Transferred without authorization.
The embryo that became another child.
His child.
Corinne claimed Daniel Reeves found her.
Where?
A small town in Vermont.
Raised by a couple named Jonathan and Emily Brooks.
Legal adoption records described a donor embryo surrendered anonymously.
Ethan had surrendered nothing.
Neither had Claire.
Rachel asked:
“Do we have proof?”
Corinne nodded.
“Daniel has DNA.”
“Then why hasn't he contacted Ethan?”
Corinne's answer was simple.
“Because Claire told him not to.”
Ethan's anger exploded.
“She knew?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Two weeks before she died.”
Claire found evidence that the girl in Vermont was theirs.
Then she made Daniel promise not to approach Ethan until she could confirm everything.
She died before she could.
Daniel continued watching the child from a distance.
That alone raised ethical alarms.
Then Corinne found him.
How?
She had been searching too.
Not for Ethan.
For herself.
Her pregnancy changed the question.
Independent testing at the hospital determined Ethan was not the biological father.
That was unsurprising.
But Corinne refused to name the father.
She said:
“He doesn't know.”
Then Rachel uncovered a payment.
Corinne had transferred $80,000 six months earlier to a company owned by Daniel Reeves.
Description:
Consulting.
Why pay him?
Corinne claimed he demanded money in exchange for silence.
Blackmail?
Daniel denied it when located.
His version was different.
He said Corinne paid him to prove Maisie was not Ethan's biological child.
Corinne already knew that.
Why need proof?
Because she was preparing for divorce.
If Ethan learned Maisie was not biologically his, Corinne believed she could position herself as the more “stable” parent and control the child-related trust Claire had left.
Ethan went cold.
“What trust?”
Rachel found it.
Claire had left Maisie approximately $6.4 million.
Ethan was trustee until adulthood.
If Ethan lost legal guardianship, successor trustee:
Corinne Carter.
Ethan looked toward Maisie's room.
The bruise.
The hair pulling.
The fear.
Corinne did not simply resent Maisie.
She had a financial path through her.
But Daniel Reeves had discovered something else.
He told investigators:
“Corinne didn't want custody of Maisie.”
“Then what?”
“She wanted Maisie declared not to be Maisie.”
Ethan stared.
Daniel continued:
“Because if Maisie Reeves isn't Maisie Carter, Claire's trust goes to the biological Carter child.”
Ethan's daughter in Vermont.
Then who would control that child's trust?
The biological father.
Ethan.
So why would Corinne want that?
May you like
Daniel answered:
“Because she thought the girl in Vermont was hers.”
