Chapter 14 - My Father’s Name
Claire had not spoken to her father in eight months.
Thomas Bennett lived in Connecticut, played golf on Tuesdays, complained about taxes, and sent handwritten birthday cards.
He was also, according to Raymond Cole, the man above the Circle.
Claire refused to believe it.
Torres did not.
“Bennett served as deputy counsel to the governor twenty-five years ago,” she said the next morning. “Then private equity. Then infrastructure.”
Claire stared through the FBI conference room glass.
“So?”
“So his companies appear in eleven contracts linked to the shell network.”
Nathan sat beside her, silent.
Marcus looked worse. “Dad hated Bennett.”
Claire turned. “Vincent hated everyone richer than him.”
Nathan almost smiled.
Torres slid a photograph across the table.
It showed Thomas Bennett, Vincent Moretti, and Raymond Cole standing together on a dock in 1998.
Claire had never seen the picture.
On the back, someone had written: FIRST MEETING OF THE CIRCLE.
Claire stood.
“No. I’m going to ask him myself.”
Nathan followed her outside.
“That’s what Raymond wants.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do.”
She turned on him.
“You disappeared for six months. My brother-in-law lied to me. A detective helped bury the wrong man. My mother was kidnapped. Now someone says my father runs a criminal network. I am done sitting in rooms while men decide what truth I can handle.”
Nathan took the words without flinching.
Then nodded.
“Okay.”
Thomas Bennett’s estate sat behind stone walls in Greenwich.
When Claire arrived, her father was on the back terrace drinking coffee.
He looked surprised to see Nicholas alive.
But not shocked.
Claire noticed immediately.
“You knew,” she whispered.
Thomas set down the cup.
“Claire—”
“You knew he was alive.”
Her father looked at Nathan.
“I hoped.”
Nathan stepped forward.
“Raymond says you run the Circle.”
Thomas gave a tired laugh.
“Raymond always was dramatic.”
Claire’s voice broke.
“Tell me he’s lying.”
Her father’s silence was the answer.
Then a red dot appeared on Thomas’s white shirt.
May you like
Nathan shouted, “Down!”
The terrace windows exploded inward.
