Chapter 4 - My Name in His Files

The flash drive was encrypted.

Daniel said we needed a laptop that had never connected to our home network. Evelyn had one in her car.

I should have walked out.

Instead, I stayed because fear is worse when you don't know its shape.

Ten minutes later we sat around the kitchen island like strangers forced into the same emergency shelter. Evelyn opened a black laptop and inserted the drive.

Folders appeared.

Properties. Accounts. Contracts. Photographs.

Then she clicked a folder labeled C.B.

My initials.

Inside were photos of me going back almost four years.

Me leaving my old apartment.

Me meeting Daniel for our first dinner.

Me at my mother's grave.

Me signing our marriage license.

My mouth went dry.

"You knew about this?" I asked Daniel.

"No."

Evelyn clicked another file.

A scanned background report opened. My school records. Employment history. Medical insurance claims. My father's bankruptcy. My mother's death certificate.

Then a document titled MATERNAL LINEAGE REVIEW.

I stopped breathing.

"What the hell is that?"

Daniel leaned closer. "I've never seen it."

The report showed my mother's maiden name, Elaine Mercer, highlighted in yellow.

Evelyn whispered, "Mercer."

"What?"

She looked at Daniel. "Your father bought the Mercer Building in '98."

Daniel's face changed.

I knew the Mercer Building. Everyone in Boston real estate did. A six-story brick property downtown that had become one of Bennett Development's first major successes.

"My grandfather owned that building," I said slowly. "He lost it when his business failed."

Daniel pushed away from the island.

"Claire..."

"Don't Claire me."

Evelyn opened a scanned transfer document.

My grandfather's signature sat at the bottom.

Next to it was a handwritten note from Richard Bennett:

Family still disputing. Daughter pregnant. Pressure will work.

My hands went numb.

My mother had been pregnant with me when the property was taken.

Then another file popped open by itself.

A live camera feed.

Our front porch.

A man in a dark baseball cap was standing outside our door.

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He reached into his jacket.

And pulled out a key.