Chapter 10 - The Bennett Family
The funeral was small. Just family. Just Ryan, Diana, Lila, a few old friends of Richard’s. No reporters. No cameras. No drama. Just a simple service in the small cemetery where Richard was buried. They buried Margaret beside him. Even after everything, Ryan said, they belonged together. For better or worse.
Claire stood beside him, holding Liam, holding his hand, while the priest said the words. She didn’t mourn Margaret. She couldn’t. Not after everything she’d done. But she mourned the woman Margaret could have been. The mother Ryan deserved. The grandmother Liam would never know.
Life moved on. Slowly.
The DA closed the case against Margaret. No point in trying a dead woman. Caleb pled guilty to everything — assault, embezzlement, conspiracy, blackmail — and got fifteen years in exchange for his testimony. Dr. Voss lost her medical license and was fined five hundred thousand dollars. The two nurses who’d attacked Claire lost their licenses and spent six months in county jail. Every penny Margaret had stolen was returned to the company, to the foundation, to the family. The Whitmore Group thrived under Diana’s leadership. Ryan stayed on, as promised, working for a dollar a year, and for the first time in his life, he was truly happy.
They changed the company’s name, eventually. Bennett & Whitmore. A new legacy. Built on honesty, not lies.
Six months after Margaret died, they got a letter in the mail. From a lawyer in Mexico City.
Dear Mr. Bennett, it said. I represent Carlos Mendez. Your biological father. He is dying of cancer. He has six months, maybe less. He has known about you for years. He wanted to reach out many times, but Margaret threatened to kill him if he ever did. He would like to meet you. Before it’s too late. No pressure. No demands for money. No inheritance. Just… a chance to say hello. To say he’s sorry. To tell you he’s proud of the man you became.
Ryan stared at the letter for a long time. Then he looked at Claire. At Liam.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“I think you should go,” Claire said. “You deserve to know him. Even if it’s just for a little while. And Liam deserves to meet his other grandfather.”
They went to Mexico City a week later. Carlos was a thin, gentle man, an artist, with Ryan’s eyes and Ryan’s smile. He had boxes and boxes of drawings he’d done of Ryan over the years — from the few blurry newspaper photos Margaret hadn’t been able to keep him from seeing. He’d watched Ryan from afar his whole life. Had been so proud. So happy he’d turned out so well.
They spent two weeks with him. Ryan got to know his father. Liam got to sit on his grandfather’s lap and color with him. It was sad, and beautiful, and healing all at once. Carlos died three months later, peacefully, with Ryan holding his hand. He left Ryan nothing but his sketchbooks. They were the most valuable thing Ryan had ever owned.
A year to the day after Margaret had ripped the blanket off Claire in that hospital room, they stood in the backyard of their small suburban house, surrounded by friends and family. Lila was there. Elena and her husband. Diana, in from Paris. Victoria, who’d become one of Claire’s closest friends. Even Detective Alvarez, who’d become something of a mentor to Claire.
It was Liam’s first birthday.
They had cake. And balloons. And a big plastic slide that Liam spent an hour climbing up and sliding down, laughing so hard he could barely breathe. Ryan chased him around the yard, making monster noises, while everyone watched and smiled.
Claire stood under the tree, holding a glass of lemonade, watching them. Victoria came over, leaning against the trunk beside her.
“Penny for your thoughts,” she said.
Claire smiled. “I was just thinking. A year ago, I was in that hospital bed. Bruised. Scared. Convinced I was going to lose my son. Convinced my whole life was over. And now? Look at us.”
She gestured to Ryan, lifting Liam high into the air, both of them laughing.
May you like
“I have a husband who loves me, really loves me, no lies, no secrets. I have a perfect, healthy son. I have friends. I have a job I love — Diana asked me to run the foundation, you know? Full time. Giving money to people who need it. Single mothers. Kids in foster care. People who don’t have anyone to fight for them. It’s everything I ever wanted.”
Victoria nodded. “You earned it. You fought harder than anyone I’ve ever met. You took down the most powerful woman in the state with nothing but a hidden camera and a lot of courage. You deserve every bit of
