Chapter 4 - The Marriage Clause
Claire called the family attorney.
Samuel Beckett arrived forty minutes later.
He had represented the Morgans for twenty-seven years.
Claire placed one question before him.
"If I die tomorrow, what happens to my Morgan Industrial shares?"
Samuel's expression immediately told her she wasn't going to like the answer.
"Why are you asking?"
"Answer."
"The shares enter the family trust."
"Trustees?"
"Your father, your husband, and me."
"Voting control?"
"Shared."
"Beneficiary?"
Samuel hesitated.
"Primarily your surviving spouse."
Claire felt Ethan shift beside her.
"And if Julian and I divorce?"
"The marital agreement protects your premarital holdings."
"So he gets nothing."
"Essentially."
Claire walked toward the window.
Chicago stretched beneath her.
For twelve years she had believed the prenuptial agreement protected her.
Now it looked different.
If Julian divorced Claire, he lost access to Morgan Industrial.
If Claire died while they were married, he became the primary beneficiary of a trust containing assets worth hundreds of millions.
Samuel spoke carefully.
"Claire, what happened?"
She showed him the forged authorization.
Then the security photographs.
Then the suspicious vendors.
Samuel removed his glasses.
"Have you contacted law enforcement?"
"Not yet."
"You should."
"I need proof."
"You have enough to justify contacting them."
"I need to understand the entire structure first."
Samuel looked worried.
"Do not investigate this alone."
Claire turned.
"Why?"
"Because your sister told you to examine what happens if you die."
The sentence sounded different when someone else said it.
Claire looked at Ethan.
"Get me everything related to those vendors."
Ethan nodded.
Samuel gathered the trust documents.
Then stopped.
"There's something else."
Claire waited.
"Six months ago, Julian asked me whether the trust documents could be amended."
Her blood chilled.
"What amendment?"
"He asked whether a surviving spouse could exercise immediate voting control without the approval of the other trustees."
"And?"
"I told him no."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"He framed it as succession planning."
Claire closed her eyes.
Six months.
The affair had been active at least ten.
The suspicious vendor transfers had begun eighteen months earlier.
Nothing was random anymore.
Samuel continued.
"He also asked about key-person insurance."
Claire opened her eyes.
"What insurance?"
"Morgan Industrial carries policies on senior executives."
"How much on me?"
"Twenty-five million."
"Beneficiary?"
"The company."
Claire exhaled.
Samuel wasn't finished.
"There's also your personal policy."
She looked at him.
"Julian increased it last year."
"To what?"
"Ten million."
Claire remembered signing insurance paperwork after Julian claimed their financial planner recommended an update.
She hadn't read every page.
That mistake now felt unforgivable.
"Beneficiary?"
"Julian."
Nobody spoke.
Claire's phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
She almost ignored it.
Then a message appeared.
STOP LOOKING AT NORTHSTAR.
Claire stared at it.
Another message followed.
YOU HAVE MORE TO LOSE THAN A HUSBAND.
Ethan read over her shoulder.
Samuel whispered, "Call the police."
Claire typed nothing.
A third message arrived.
ASK YOUR FATHER ABOUT 1998.
Claire looked at Robert's photograph on her office shelf.
For the first time since this began, the investigation moved somewhere she hadn't expected.
Away from Julian.
May you like
Away from Chloe.
Toward her father.
