Chapter 4 — Claire Finally Revealed Why She Entered Room 302
Chapter 4 — Claire Finally Revealed Why She Entered Room 302
I looked at Claire.
She didn’t move.
She didn’t deny it.
That was enough.
“You were there.”
Claire’s lips parted, but no words came out.
Rebecca turned toward her.
“You knew?”
Claire shook her head.
“Not like that.”
I stepped closer.
“Then explain it.”
She looked at Marcus.
He immediately said, “Claire, don’t.”
That was the moment I understood.
Marcus wasn’t protecting her.
He was afraid of what she would say.
Claire closed her eyes.
Then she whispered,
“I went to Room 302 because your father asked me to.”
The words hit me harder than I expected.
“My father?”
She nodded.
“Three days before he died.”
I stared at her.
“Why would my father contact you?”
“Because he knew you trusted me.”
I almost laughed.
“You weren’t even my wife yet.”
“I know.”
She looked down.
“But we had already been together for years.”
That part was true.
Claire and I had dated for four years before getting married.
She had met my father several times.
He liked her.
Maybe too much.
I remembered how often he’d told me, She’s the kind of person you should keep close.
At the time, I thought he was talking about marriage.
Now I wasn’t so sure.
“What did he ask you to do?”
Claire looked at the envelope Marcus had given me.
“He asked me to deliver that.”
I stared at it.
“You brought this to Room 302?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t I ever get it?”
“Because Thomas took it.”
“Why?”
“Because he knew what was inside.”
I looked at Marcus.
“You said you were there.”
He nodded.
“What happened?”
Marcus took a slow breath.
“Your father arrived first.”
He glanced at Rebecca.
“I was already working with him.”
Rebecca looked stunned.
“You never told me that.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
She laughed bitterly.
“That’s what you always say.”
Marcus ignored her.
“Thomas arrived twenty minutes later.”
“And Claire?”
“She came after him.”
I looked at Claire.
“What happened when you got there?”
She swallowed.
“Your father told me Thomas had been stealing from the company.”
“I know.”
“No,” she said. “You don’t.”
She took a breath.
“He told me Thomas wasn’t stealing for himself.”
I frowned.
“Then who?”
Claire looked at Marcus.
Marcus answered.
“For someone who wanted control of your father’s estate.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
Neither of them spoke.
Then Rebecca suddenly opened the folder again.
“There.”
She pointed at a page.
A list of names.
Lawyers.
Accountants.
Executives.
Trustees.
And one name circled three times.
Eleanor Carter.
I stared at it.
“Who is Eleanor?”
Claire’s face went pale.
Marcus whispered,
“Your father’s sister.”
I shook my head.
“My aunt?”
“You’ve never met her,” Claire said.
“Why?”
“Because your father cut her out of his life twenty years ago.”
I looked at the documents.
“Why?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Your father believed she tried to manipulate your grandfather’s estate.”
“And she wanted mine?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca looked at Marcus.
“So Thomas was working for Eleanor?”
Marcus nodded.
“But there was a problem.”
“What?”
“She couldn’t access the trust while you were alive.”
I felt cold.
“So she needed me removed.”
Claire nodded.
“That was the plan.”
I stared at her.
“And you knew?”
“I knew something was happening.”
“You knew someone wanted me removed.”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
“I was scared.”
“Of Eleanor?”
Claire shook her head.
“Of Marcus.”
Rebecca looked at her husband.
Marcus said nothing.
Claire continued.
“He told me if I said anything, you would lose everything.”
I looked at Marcus.
“You threatened my wife?”
“I warned her.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Marcus stepped toward me.
“Your father wasn’t innocent either.”
I froze.
“What does that mean?”
“He knew Eleanor was coming.”
“Then why didn’t he stop her?”
“Because he was trying to expose her.”
Marcus pulled another document from his pocket.
“This was the real reason Hollowell existed.”
He handed it to me.
The company wasn’t simply a holding company.
It was a trap.
My father had created it to trace money moving through the businesses connected to Eleanor.
Every transfer had been documented.
Every shell company.
Every account.
Every person involved.
And the two million dollars Rebecca had found?
It wasn’t missing.
It had been deliberately moved.
My father had moved it himself.
I looked at Marcus.
“Why?”
“To make them believe the money was vulnerable.”
“So they would expose themselves.”
Marcus nodded.
“But your father didn’t expect to die before he finished.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“What happened to him?”
Marcus looked down.
“I don’t know.”
“You were there.”
“I left before the argument ended.”
“Who stayed?”
He hesitated.
“Thomas.”
“And Claire?”
Marcus looked at her.
“She left after your father gave her the envelope.”
Claire nodded.
“I left.”
I stared at the envelope in my hand.
“Then who was with my father when he died?”
Nobody answered.
My phone vibrated.
Another message.
Ask Rebecca about the photograph.
I looked at Rebecca.
“What photograph?”
She frowned.
“I don’t know.”
I showed her the message.
Her face changed.
Slowly, she opened her purse.
She pulled out her phone.
Then she searched through several photographs.
Finally, she stopped.
“I found something.”
She showed me the screen.
It was a photograph taken outside Room 302.
My father was standing near the elevator.
Thomas was beside him.
Claire was walking toward them.
Marcus was in the hallway.
But behind them, almost hidden by the elevator doors, was another figure.
A woman.
I zoomed in.
My hands started shaking.
I knew that face.
Not because I’d met her.
Because I’d seen her photograph in my father’s house.
Eleanor.
My aunt.
She had been there.
That night.
I looked at Marcus.
“You said you left before the argument ended.”
He didn’t answer.
Rebecca suddenly whispered,
“Marcus…”
He closed his eyes.
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Because your father made me promise.”
“To do what?”
Marcus looked at me.
“To make sure Daniel never found out who actually killed him.”
The words barely left his mouth before the restaurant doors opened.
A woman walked inside.
She was older.
Elegant.
Calm.
And completely unafraid.
Marcus turned white.
Claire grabbed my arm.
Rebecca stood beside me.
The woman looked directly at me.
“Daniel.”
I stared at her.
“Eleanor?”
She smiled.
“Your father always said you had his eyes.”
I couldn’t move.
She walked toward us carrying a small black briefcase.
Then she placed it on the bar.
“You’ve spent eleven years believing your wife betrayed you.”
She looked at Claire.
“That’s convenient.”
Claire’s eyes filled with tears.
Eleanor turned back to me.
“But the truth is much worse.”
She opened the briefcase.
Inside was a stack of documents.
And on top was a death certificate.
My father’s.
Except the date was different from the one I had known my entire life.
I stared at it.
“This says he died three days earlier.”
Eleanor nodded.
“Because the death you were told about wasn’t his.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
She leaned closer.
“Your father didn’t die in that hotel.”
She pointed at the photograph.
“He left Room 302 alive.”
I looked at Marcus.
He couldn’t meet my eyes.
Eleanor smiled.
“And someone has been pretending to be dead for eleven years.”
Then she slid one final photograph across the counter.
I turned it over.
And the man standing beside my father in the picture was someone I had trusted my entire life.
My hands went numb.
Because it wasn’t Thomas.
It wasn’t Marcus.
It wasn’t Eleanor.
It was the one person I had never once thought to suspect.